The Fading Aurora
by Luponus Draconus
Summary: Of Light and Dark Book 2: 4 months after Eclipse's death and the group is still trying to move on. Together they've been trying to readjust to everyday life, however the dark forces have yet to be truly defeated. Spyro must prepare the city for the new wave of evil while Aurora must find a way to pick herself up. Can they survive this new onslaught? Or will ghosts defeat them all?
1. Prologue

**_A/N I'm back and better than ever? I've been working on this project for a bit and completely forgot to upload the Prologue. I will say that it's a little shorter than the main chapters but I hope everyone enjoys it just as much as the main story when I put that out. Having said that, please enjoy and I'll see you next time!_**

* * *

 _Centuries Ago..._

He needed to get back home, tonight was supposed to be one of the greatest nights of his life. If not for the guardians he would already be there, waiting for it to happen. All their talk about restraint and responsibility did nothing but inconvenience him. Their words meant nothing to him, all he cared about is being there when he was needed most. They didn't understand, how could old and solitary hermits tell him how to be responsible with his power?

The two of them have waited for what seemed like centuries for it to be the night. His mate was laying their egg tonight, after a entire year of waiting. Butterflies filled the pit in his stomach, swelling around and only increasing his anxiety to get home. Pride also rose in his chest with the acknowledgement that it was his.

It was his egg she was laying, the fact danced around in his head as if it was new. It was their dragonet in that egg, their child to love. The very idea of his child boggled his mind, he could feel all the questions jumping around inside. _What would it look like? Is it a boy or a girl? What if it's another purple dragon? Is it even something he could pass down? What if it's normal?_ He pushed all the questions aside, he would love them whoever they turned out to be.

Feelings flurried between the very bones in his body when he saw their home in front of him. He could've recognized the stones from miles away, to him, nothing but what sat inside those stones mattered. Bright orange torchlight shone out the windows, and barely distinguishable smoke floated out of the chimney. It felt like his cheeks would break with how hard he was smiling. He felt both weak and strong, nervous and confident, not ready and ready.

The door was wide open.

Surely he closed the door when he left, and Eclissi shouldn't be out with how close it was. All of their friends knew not to disturb them tonight, they knew how special this night was to them. None of the Guardians left before him and there wasn't a reason for them to be here anyway. No one would dare… would they?

Fear bloated out all other emotions as he shot down to the door. Random objects flew off the shelves with the wind that came rushing in with his entry. Whiplash would've disoriented anyone but he was on a critical mission. His eyes scanned the room, his heart dropping with what he saw.

"Eclissi!" She was on the ground, a cabinet pinning her to the floor. He wasted no time, practically throwing the cabinet through the wall. He sat next to her, cradling her in his arms.

Something had put a blade to her, a large gash made its way through her beautiful red scales. A darker red flowed down her legs and underbelly, spilling onto the floor where she was. Her breathing was shallow, filled with ultimate terror.

Something moved, he heard it through the only other door in their small apartment. It shuffled again whatever it was, it was trying to hide. She pointed to the door and his heart sank. Their egg was in that room, alone, and with whatever or whoever was in there.

A mixture of fear and rage filled him as he laid her back down. The floorboards protested against his heavy footsteps but he was trying to hide from them. He wanted them to know he was here and that he was anything but pleased. Some unknown power circled within him, it felt cold and practically begged to be released.

A step closer and he heard the dragon's nervous breathing from the doorway. Small trembles reached him through the wall, the other dragon was shaking. It wasn't a possibility anymore, the burglar knew what home he was breaking into. Only question was, did he know what this night was?

Malefor didn't care, this was his home and whoever it was also injured his beloved. The scream was cut short when he dragged the dragon out by his neck. He began to choke as Malefor slammed him to the ground, the fury was surely raging in his eyes. The thought appeared in his head to turn the thief over, and try to save Eclissi's life. It was a passing thought however.

"I can explain!" The thief crocked out between gasps. He didn't care about his explanation, justice was the only thing on his mind. Torchlight bounced off the window, catching his eye. Something told him to stop, to let this dragon live to face trial before the council but he didn't listen.

Dragging him across the floor by his neck, Malefor brought him to the window that shined to him. A look outside suggested that the window dropped onto the lower tier of the city, he settled for it. He grabbed the back of the dragon's head, thrusting it through the glass to clear the way for the rest of him. Some shards stuck themselves in his face, blood ruining the perfect clarity they once had. The hold returned to the dragon's neck but he wasn't ready yet

"Please, let me go!" His cries didn't change what was next. A brutal snap and the bones in his wings were broken. The bones pierced through the scales, becoming red fountains on the edges of his wings. He didn't care about what he should do as the purple dragon, he only cared about what he should do as a husband and father. "You made your point! Please!"

All the strength in his body was channeled in that throw, and the thud at the bottom was music to his ears. That cold power didn't leave him, instead it grew stronger. It continued to build inside him like hunger. He ignored it, running back to Eclissi as soon as he looked at the disfigured body on the street.

"I'm so sorry. I should've been here to protect you." He rocked her back and forth, holding her head close to his chest. "I should've ignored the call. I should've stayed here."

"Don't blame yourself, no one could've guessed this would happen." Her voice was weak, barely louder than a whisper.

"It was my fault. This wouldn't have happened if I was here." She caressed his cheek, her forearm shaking as she did so. "Get it for me."

He didn't waste a moment, running into the other room and grabbing the egg from the blanket. It was a crimson red and felt heavier than he had expected it to be. It was already teaming with life, he swore he already felt a pulse inside. The egg looked to be perfectly smooth but that changed with a crack that ran up the side. He didn't care about it however, it was still perfect in his mind.

"Isn't he the most precious thing in the world?" She wrapped her talons around it when he gave it to her.

"It's a boy?" He pushed the worries away, this was the moment he's been waiting for. He wanted nothing but to be right where he was, with both his wife and child. They pulled him away and it almost cost him everything. How could he learn responsibility if they didn't allow him to be responsible?

"You wo-"

"We. We won't know." He knew that she wasn't going to survive, her injury was too substantial for a doctor to get to her in time. He laid next to her, bringing them close to him with his wing.

"We won't know until he hatches, I just have that feeling." She caressed the shell, careful not to catch her talon on the crack. "He's strong, just like his father."

"And his mother." He put his head between her shoulder and neck, letting a content sigh escape his muzzle as he did. "He'll get my dashing looks and your brave heart."

"He'll get my smarts and your…" She turned towards him, a small smile resting upon her face. He placed his paw over hers on the egg, wanting to feel him with her. Their son pulsed with new life beneath their paws, like he was reaching out to them. "...yeah, let's hope he only gets your looks." She giggled, even through the pain in her side.

"Hey, I have other good qualities for him to take." He protested, smiling with her.

"Like what?"

"Well, he could get my amazing charm, …" She shook her head, her smile growing slightly. "... my fantastic magical abilities, …." She raised a questioning eyebrow. "... and my unbelievable luck." Another giggle sounded from her.

"Oh yeah? What makes you so lucky?" He heard a soft squeal as he pulled them closer, careful not to crush the egg.

"How am I lucky? Hmm…" He toyed with her more, earning him another giggle from her. "...well I managed to swindle the most gorgeous and courageous dragoness the realms have ever seen." The egg seemed to agree with him, pulsing against them.

"What should his name be?" She snuggled in closer to the egg, letting him kiss her forehead. "Good suggestions only."

"Malefor Junior."

"I said good suggestions." She laughed again.

"It is a good suggestion. Why isn't it a good suggestion?" They laughed together.

"He's my son too." She looked up to him, her silver eyes throwing more butterflies in his stomach. "Give him a name that means something."

"A good name that means something…" Various names jumped around in his head, all of meaning one thing or the other. Looking down into her moonlight eyes, a name brought itself into the spotlight. "...Eclipse?"

"Thank the ancestors if he gets my smarts."

"What's wrong with that name? It's a good name."

"You just took the common term for my name..." Her smile loosened for a moment. "...but I like it."

"Good, because I was going to call him that anyway." He returned her smile.

"You're nervous."

"This is my first-born dragonet. What if I do something wrong? What if I can't give him the life he deserves?" The voices of his worries spilled out before them both. To him, the very thought of being a father scared him. All the wrong decisions appeared in his head, bringing more worries into his mind.

"You'll do fine Malefor. Our son is in good hands." Her confidence was infectious, all the worries away from her words. "Just promise me something."

"What is it?"

"Promise me that no matter what happens to me, whether I see the next sunrise or not, that he won't know this pain. I don't want him to know the pain you're feeling." He pulled just her head in this time, letting her tears soak his shoulder. Tears of his own formed at the corners of his vision and blurred the lines of the destroyed furniture around them. The underlying anger fed into the coldness inside, growing it like water does to a seed.

"I promise my love, he won't experience this." Dams in the corner of his eyes broke, letting the backed up tears fall over his cheeks. Grief, pain, anger, betrayal, all of the negative emotions flowed out with his tears. "I'll make him as strong as me, I'll make sure our son can do what I couldn't with his family."

"Thank you." She looked back up to him, her eyes red from the tears. They brought their lips together and held them there. Unspoken commitments, eternal vows, and unyielding emotions passed between them without a single word. Sleep took them together, encasing them under purple winged protection.

His eyes fluttered open, landing on his lover's face. At first a warm smile crossed his face yet it quickly fell without the feeling of her breath. Her eyes didn't open with his nor was his loving smile returned. Shed tears laid dried on her red scales and no beating heart gave him a happy feeling.

He scrambled up but bent down almost instantly, nudging her with his nose. The absence of movement brought unspent tears to his eyes. Overwhelmed with emotions, he dropped down to sit before her. The tears came with soft sobs, memories brought back those last moments. They made him remember his last promise to her, his mind scrambling to find a way to keep it.

The grief turned to anger, then anger brought the need for vengeance. Betrayal told him that his own race took this from him, took one of the few things he had left. The vengeance begged him to find a way to avenge her. A cold presence wrapped his insides and mind, telling him how to achieve his goals.

It changed him, throwing away the hints of who he was before they did this. Soft purple eyes hardened into a stone yellow, while his pupils sharpened like swords. His scales cracked and shifted, letting the shadows tint them darker. Talons grew longer and were given a razor blade edge. The once pure soul let the darkness turn it black and corrupted.

Yellow eyes landed on the egg, still being held tight by her. He carefully slipped it out of her grasp, holding onto it with the utmost care. The red shell held true, holding the crack in place. Veins of black surged up the egg, tainting it with its touch. Within seconds of grabbing the egg, it's entire shell was painted jet black.

" **Do not worry. We will show them our pain…** " Plans had already formed in his head, ranging from soldiers to magic. A picture of victory clouded his mind and evicted all other thoughts, the singular goal that he desperately wanted to achieve. The bright light of the sun hit the egg, showcasing the new life forming within. " **...my son.** "


	2. Chapter 1

_Present..._

"Malefor was said to have been over five hundred years old, at the time of his resurrection at the Well of Souls. Sadly, besides his family and that he was trained by the Elder Guardians, not much is known about his life before banishment. One of the ancient Elder Guardians did write in his personal journal, that Malefor was immensely kind and more than eager to further develop his skills." His voice reached out over the class before him, attempting to keep their attention on him and the history. Spyro saw a paw rise up from the back of the group. "What is it?"

"If he was such a kind dragon then how was he so corrupted?" The student asked, poking his head up above the dragon in front of him.

"We don't exactly know. As I said, not much is known about his earlier life or any specific reason for his vendetta against dragons. Personally, I think it has something to do with his family that caused him to turn to corruption." His story rang true through the memory in his head, yet he couldn't trust if Malefor was telling the truth. The story didn't sit with him right, how much sense it made to him.

"Then why did he experiment his own son?" He froze for a moment. They had told the city of Eclipse's parentage when they returned and at first it caused mass confusion. Seemingly no one could fathom why either of them would go against each other, there were even accusations that Eclipse was a spy. If not for Terrador's intervention then the city's mistrust would've grown to possibly bubble over onto Aurora or Cynder.

"Again, we don't know why Malefor decided to experiment on Eclipse instead of someone else. Maybe he was too deep in his corruption to understand who Eclipse was…" It wasn't really a lie, he really didn't know why Malefor put Eclipse through the experiments, but what he heard in that cave suggested otherwise. The idea of the corruption loosening on Malefor made him ask himself if he really did push him back to the light. "...but we can't honestly know for sure."

"What was he like?" The fight between him and Eclipse returned to his mind, he remembered Eclipse's face just before he left. The guilt and pain was infectious, his own expression matching the late black dragon's. "Spyro?"

"I'm sorry, what was Eclipse like?" The student spoke up again and everyone's faces took on the same curiosity. "I don't think I'm the best person to answer that." He tried to give them a small smile to appease them but the looks in their eyes didn't falter.

"We want to hear what you thought of him." The same student spoke for them all, as the entire class nodded in agreement.

"Well, I didn't know him for very long. He was only here for a month or so. I really only know him from reputation and what Cynder told me about him." He tried to escape the conversation again.

"But what did you think of him while he was here." The escape attempt failed.

"Eclipse was…" Words died out for a moment. Various memories were kicked up like dust, clouding his mind in a storm. _How do I do him justice? I barely knew him._ "He was strong, loyal to his friends, dedicated to the protection of everyone in the city. I admired him for his courage and how far he was willing to go for people he didn't know." Spyro thought for a moment, pausing in mid stride in front of them. "He was a good friend."

"Then why did you cause him to leave after fighting you?" That was a question he was still trying to find the right answer to. _Was it pure jealousy or rage? Did Malefor cause me to do it or was it my own darkness?_ It should've been easy, justifying something he did to others, however he couldn't find the words to do it.

"That's enough for today." Cynder came to his rescue, breaking into the discussion. There were a few moans of disappointment in response but the class slowly dispersed into the surrounding grounds. A few gave him sideways glances as they left, and for some reason, the looks reflected anger. "Seems like the great hero needed to be saved."

"I suppose I have to thank you for that?" He rubbed the back of his head, an uneasy laugh exiting his mouth.

"There's no need, I could see how uncomfortable you were with the question." She returned a smile, circling in to the other side of him. "You did right by him."

"I betrayed him in life, I won't betray him in death." The memory of his friend's nod echoed through him along with his final request of him. There was a part of him that regretting going through with closing the tunnels behind him. That was also the part that wanted to drag him back to Warfang with them, but Eclipse had earned his respect. Not just as a warrior but as a friend. It felt wrong to go back on him in that moment, he made a choice that no one thought would've needed to be made.

"Something tells me you won't." He followed her gaze to the raised platform where Ardere was cleaning up the blacksmithing area. A genuine smile replaced the forced one once he saw that Aurora was laying on the short wall that ran along the edges.

Aurora was starting to reintegrate with society, occasionally visiting the Academy's grounds and watching the classes. That was the extent of her self-planned outings however, the only other time she came out was to eat with them. The lack of outdoor journeys had began to take their toll on her body. Her scales had lost their glimmer, along with her eyes becoming more dull. She had also began to gain weight, her midsection having slowly grown widder over the past four months.

"It's good to see her out and about, makes me happier." Spyro began to walk over to them, Cynder by his side.

"As I said, you're doing right by him." She moved closer to him, leaning on him slightly. He liked to think that they still had that spark from when they fought Malefor. That she cared for him as much as he cared for her but he didn't want to impose anything. While they had reconnected on a friendly level, he was unsure if she wanted to take it a step further. Going of what she said at the center of the world wasn't an option to him anymore.

Frost and Nathora landed next to Ardere as the two of them reached the steps. Frost was still working with Nathora to become a reserve scout like she was. The two of them working on the various skills required to be recruited. Nathora had decided to give up her position as a senior scout so that she could teach. A shocking decision to him at first, but not an unwelcome one. Ardere has been getting closer and closer to anointed the Fire Elder Guardian, one of the youngest but his age didn't deter him.

"I swear, these students are the same age as us but are far less mature." Ardere complained as he threw a hammer into a basket. "Half of them don't even pay attention, then everyone swarmed Aurora when she got here."

"Well one, blacksmithing isn't exactly the most interesting thing to watch." He shot Frost a glare. "Two, everyone wants to know what Eclipse was like when he wasn't being the warrior everyone knows." Spyro noticed Nathora twirl her tail around Frost's as well as giving off a small content sigh. She quickly undid it once she saw that he was staring at them.

"I don't get how he made it so entertaining." Ardere sighed, swiping a fresh ingot into a bucket of water.

"Maybe because he was using unusual materials instead of just steel? Plus he knew what he was doing." Frost continued, casting a glance back at his tail. Nathora casually stepped away from him, as if trying to hide that she was wrapped around his tail.

"At least I can take a hint…" He grumbled.

"What?" He raised an eyebrow at him.

"Nothing." With a sigh, he continued to watch the steam rise from the bucket.

"Anyway…" Cynder quickly changed the subject. "...how is our favorite ice block's training going Nat?"

"He's quite a bit away from anything resembling a disciplined scout." Nathora smiled as the eyebrow turned to her. "I have hope for him though."

"Good to hear. Maybe then we can get him out of his lazy tendencies." The group laughed as the eyebrow dropped into a frown.

"Hey! I've gotten better."

"I beg to differ." Ardere chimed in again.

"Says you, all you do in the morning is complain about being hungry and having to teach 'a bunch of children'." The red dragon took on the frown before splashing Frost with the hot water.

"And here I thought teaching would make you more mature." Cyril gently landed next to Ardere, a smile spreading across his face.

"I apologize Elder Cyril." He bowed into his apology.

"There's no need for the formalities, besides that makes me sound too old." Cyril gave a hearty chuckle. The Guardians have been tirelessly reorganizing the city after Armavir's siege. Cyril remained the overseer of the Academy while also juggling testing other guardian initiates and personally preparing Ardere for his Elder Guardianship. Terrador's rebuilding the city's defenses from the ground up, using the two sieges as examples of how to improve. Volteer's been handling virtually everything else, from housing to rebuilding. He's mostly seen putting all his extra energy to use within official scrolls and monitoring rebuilding efforts.

"Sorry, still trying to get used to the idea of being someone important." A shy smile came out of the bow.

"You've always been important, especially to me." Aurora slid off the half wall, giving him a peck on the cheek before sitting next to him.

"Thanks Aurora."

"As much as it makes me happy to see you all smiling and laughing, I need to borrow Spyro for something." Cyril's smile disappeared along with everyone else's. _Why do they need me? Did something already happen to one of my students?_ Spyro looked among the faces of his friends, each of them looking just as confused as him.

"I'm sure whatever you need to tell him, you can tell all of us." Everyone nodded with Spyro's words.

"You can tell anyone you want to after, but for now it's best if we kept this between us." He shook his head. _What are they hiding from everyone, and why are they choosing to exclude Cynder from this?_

"At least let Cynder come along, the two of us can handle anything together." He saw Cynder duck her head with a smile coming across her face.

"I'm afraid that Cynder is one of the reasons this must remain secretive."

"Oh…" The situation continued to confuse him. _How is she one of the reasons?_ Her smile fell from her face, instead being replaced by confusion. His curiosity had peaked but his concern for the secrecy had peaked with it. Cynder nodded towards him when their eyes met but he wasn't looking for her approval. "Alright, I'll go, but I will be telling everyone here about it when we're done."

"Understandable." Cyril wasted no time before lifting off into the air.

"I'll be back soon, just save a seat for me at dinner." Spyro shortly followed, letting them watch the two fly off into the more populated part of the city. It wasn't long before they landed outside the now Guardian's Temple. Being lead inside by the older dragon, he couldn't help but feel a strange coldness surround him.

The feeling of being watched accompanied the chill. It felt as if the walls had eyes and they were silently judging him. Something red caught his attention in the corner of his eye but it disappeared when he turned to it. He hadn't realized that he could be this paranoid up until now, with his scales beginning to uncomfortably itch.

"Come, there is much to discuss." Cyril called after him from an adjacent room. Spyro's mind came out of the deep thoughts and he had just realized what he was staring at. It was a large mosaic of a dragon split down the middle by black and white. The two different colored eyes stared back at him, one colored red and the other colored blue. "Spyro, you must-" He stopped once he realized what was causing him to take so long. "Oh, this is one of the few mosaics we've been able to recover. Its centuries old from what we can gather and it seems to allude to some sort of prophecy."

"What prophecy? I thought all the prophecies were destroyed when Malefor was banished?" Spyro had never heard of any other prophecies besides the purple dragon's.

"They were, the ancient Guardians believed that prophecies would only lead to bad futures. They attempted to destroy most of the evidence of all the prophecies, but lucky some small pieces of them managed to survive. You should ask Ardere or one of the other initiates, I've tasked them with putting them back together." Cyril carefully ran a paw over the mosaic, attempting to keep his talons from scratching it.

"Could I see the other mosaics you've recovered?" He looked around the room but found no other restored ancient works lining the walls.

"I can show you the others another time, but it's important that we send you on your way before nightfall." Cyril stepped away from the wall, holding a wing out to gesture towards the doorway he had just appeared from. He felt the eyes follow him as he walked away with Cyril, the strange sensation of being watched continuing to spark his own paranoia.

The war room was only used for expeditions now that the war was over. The days of planning troop movements and tactical bickering was buried somewhere in the past. Most of the maps were replaced with newer versions, all the marks of war being removed. It was strange to the map without the battle lines and the small tokens, however it wasn't completely empty. Small red circles dotted the mountains to the north of Warfang, some with small labels or notes.

"What are these for?" Spyro ran a paw over the dots, tracing the path away from the mountains. _They're heading towards the city?_

"I do apologize to you in advance, we haven't exactly been honest with you or your friends as of late." He cocked his head to the side, slightly wincing. Spyro opened his mouth to speak but he was quickly cut off. "Please, let me explain." He pointed to one of the mountain peaks, this one was labeled 'The Broken Mountain'. "After you and Eclipse defeated Malefor in the tunnels, the mountain became unstable and began to destroy itself. While you may have slowed the process by sealing the tunnels, we fear that the mountain will eventually become a volcano."

"It could destroy the city and life as we know it." Volteer entered the room, closing the door behind him.

"Don't be overdramatic, there's a slim chance that it can actually destroy the city. Most of our predictions seem to agree that there will be some complications, but that's a rabbit hole i would rather not go down at the moment." Cyril shifted his paw over the approaching dots. "We've been slowly scouting out the land, ensuring that the Dark Army cannot reform to attack us again. These red dots represent places where our scouts found evidence of some sort of struggle. While we haven't found any bodies, we want to find out who are fighting all these battles-"

"-and why they're getting closer to Warfang with each passing day." Terrador entered the room, clad in his bulky Earth Guardian Armor.

"Yes, thank you Terrador." Cyril confirmed awkwardly. Terrador stood on the other side of him, flanking him with Volteer. His armor shifted as he moved, making his footsteps heavier while the plates made a sharp 'clang' as they collided. "We can't do anything about 'Broken Mountain' at the moment, however we want you to try and find the combatants of these battles. Try to befriend them, bring them back here. Do everything you can to avoid fighting whoever they are."

"What if I'm forced to?" Spyro studied the map, quickly determining where the best place to begin his search was.

"Then win." The larger green dragon was unreadable but his command was clear.

"I still see no reason why Cynder can't accompany me, it would help if someone was watching my back." Spyro raised an eyebrow at their combined worried expressions.

"We fear that with the proximity of Broken Mountain and her relationship with Eclipse, she may be more of a liability than an asset." Terrador continued, drowning out Cyril.

"Yes, and there have also been rumors circulating that Eclipse's spirit haunts the grounds. While these are likely just rumors, we would rather not have the two of you find out the hard way." Cyril reached below the table and placed a piece of scroll on the map. "This is one of the drawings we've found lurking around the city."

The picture depicted a shadowy figure dropping from the sky, with red eyes being the only indication that it was indeed a dragon. The words 'The living must fear the dead' were quickly scribbled at the bottom. _If these aren't rumors, then she really could be a liability._

"Once you return, find me to give your report." Cyril eyed Terrador as he left them. Spyro didn't know how to feel about this mission or how all three of them gave it together. From what he knew, the Guardians haven't briefed anyone together since the war. It was also worrying to see Terrador in his full armor, he hadn't worn it since the Dragon Temple fell fifteen years ago.

He grabbed a scout bag on the way out, he didn't want to be caught in the crossfire without some sort of medical supplies. The leather bag sat securely on the front of his chest with the metal clip fastening under his forearm. The bag didn't have much in the way for crystals, a handful of energy crystal along with a single healing crystal, but it had medicinal herbs and bandages. As much as he wanted to have more healing crystals on hand, the supplies he had would have to do. Spyro was already tight on time if he was to avoid the night.

The sun was already beginning it's journey westward when he flew over the north wall. Grey urban streets were replaced by the mostly green forest with some of the leaves already painting themselves different colors. Shades of red, orange and yellow were littered among the monotonous green.

As his eyes locked onto The Broken Mountain, his mind wandered away from the present. When a single word shattered his understanding of evil and the dragon that claimed to be it's master. He always thought that Malefor was always meant to be evil or that he liked being the way he was. Eclipse's entire existence proved that this was false.

 _Malefor had a life, he had a family, he actually held all the promise that the ancient Guardians saw in him. There was good in him down in that cave, maybe even when I faced him before. Yet everyone describes me as being just like him, does that mean they think I will fall like him? Will I?_ The thought of becoming like Malefor began to worry him more than usual.

"Marek!" The shout brought him back, his ears fixating on what sounded like a dragoness. Fire engulfed a tree below him, the fire quickly spreading to everything surrounding it. A cold breeze and small flakes rose up, just as quickly countering the flames.

He angled his wings, forcing the air to bring him to the ground. Dropping to the ground, the signs of the fight showed around him. Thin sheets of ice and frost coated various surfaces while embers scattered from a dead fire. Cracks plagued the trees, most of them coming with their own dents.

The dragoness in question stood with her back to him with her rapid breathing being one of the first sounds he heard. Her scales seemed to be fine, no imperfections nor any signs of blood on them. They were a darker blue than he'd seen on a ice dragon, the sunlight showing off the deep blue hue. She turned to him and for a moment he thought it was Cynder. Brilliantly bright green eyes stunned him in that same moment and made him break eye contact. They were both silent, he didn't know what to say and it seemed like she didn't either.

"Are you okay?" He broke the silence, still awkwardly avoiding her eyes.

"Nothing that won't heal fortunately." The strange ice still held firm but there was a new feeling. She felt familiar somehow, even though this was their first meeting. "You're Spyro the purple dragon."

"I am, but who are you?" He found the ability to look at her directly but she didn't share the same courage.

"I'm Felice."

"Haven't heard that name before." It was still felt uncomfortable to talk.

"It's an older name, my father loved history." A small frown crossed her face.

"Where is your father?" _And where's this Marek?_ He kept that question private for now, he didn't want this to seem like an interrogation.

"I don't know. He's been missing for months now." _Do the Guardians know about this?_

"You should come back with me to Warfang, we'll be able to help you look for him." She shuffled nervously, pulling her limbs closer to her body. "I'm sure we'll be able to find him."

"Me and my brother were actually coming to Warfang for that reason." She laughed nervously. Spyro looked at her closer than before and he noticed that one of her wings wasn't folded in. Instead it covered her side as if it was trying to replace the scales. "Oh, don't mind that. I'm just a little sore."

"Could I just see it?" He stepped closer.

"There's no need. It's fine really." She shuffled backwards and held the wing closer to her.

"Hiding it is only making me more suspicious." Another step away from him answered his question. "Felice, please?" Her eyes went between them for a moment, anxiety making them move faster. She frequently looked to the side covered by her wing, briefly lifting it up to see better.

"You can see when I get to Warfang." Trotting past him, the dragoness hugged her wing back to the side in question. There was a small wince from her as she passed, which made him worry more, but he didn't want to push the issue further. "Why are you out here?"

"I guess I was looking for you." He followed her to the previously burning tree.

"Looking for me?" Looking over her shoulder, she raised an eyebrow.

"Not specifically, I was sent out here to find the source for all small battlefields coming from Broken Mountain." Felice shivered, unfurling her wings for a second. It was long enough to see the fresh burn that was still slightly sizzling. "I assume that those were caused by you and this Marek you were shouting after."

"Me and my brother…" She trailed off, retracting her wings slowly over the burn. "...we don't see eye to eye on a lot of things."

"I got that feeling when he lit a tree on fire."

"My brother is a hot head, like most fire dragons. He tends to take the more aggressive routes while I tend to stick to diplomacy." The explanation was accompanied by a embarrassed smirk.

"Are you the stubborn one or does he hold that title too?" He teased.

"Rude, but yes, I've been told that I am the more stubborn of the two." Her smirk seemed to be more genuinely happy than embarrassed. She completely turned to him, those green eyes capturing his attention like a bear trap. A moment passed where they stared at each other in silence, but it was a quick moment. "Is this when you kiss me?"

"W-W-What?" The question brought heat to his cheeks and made him stutter. _No, this is Felice not Cynder. I won't betray her again._

"The way you look at me, into my eyes. You get lost in them and you begin to smile in a adoring way. Your muscles relax along with your overall strong demour, you've either developed feelings for me or there's someone who I remind you of." The analyzation was spot on, like she took it straight from his mind.

"Y-Yes you do, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to give you any hints that I may of…" He chose the next words carefully under her curious gaze. "...developed anything of that nature for you."

"It's fine, you're not the first dragon that's done that." Her smile widened. "Though I wouldn't mind if that changed?" More blood rushed to his cheeks with the pointed question.

"No no no no." Spyro quickly defended himself while back away from the now encroaching dragoness. "I-I have my eyes on another dra-"

"Am I not adequate enough for you?" She rose a sly eyebrow.

"N-No, you're beautiful and all it's ju-"

"It's just that I'm not pretty enough?" Her assault continued.

"You're plenty gorgeous, I'm just-"

"Oblivious?" She started to giggle. "Relax Spyro, I'm only teasing you. Consider it payback for that stubborn comment."

"Oh..." The blush didn't leave his face however, only becoming more intense instead. "...anyway." He panned through all the questions he had for her, deciding it was best to change the subject. "Is there anything or anyone specific you're looking for in Warfang, besides your father obviously."

"Yes, do you know Eclipse?" _Do I know him? Can I answer this question or should I get Cynder to answer it. I only knew him for a few months and I ruined everything for him. Maybe I should give him a proper grave by the mountain. Would that make me feel better? Would he be happy with me if I did so?_ It shot him back to the moment the student asked him. His mind wrapped itself in the questions he had then, pulling him into a flurry of doubt and confusion. _I should find her an- How does she know him?_

"I did."

"You did?" She cocked her head and took a step towards him.

"I'm afraid to say that he's dead." Felice retracted the forward step, the happy smile dropping into disbelief. The feeling pushed her back again and caused her to slide into a sitting position. "He died a two months ago, in the second Siege of Warfang." The explanation seemed to bounce off her. Ice froze over the space between them, bringing with it the cold silence.

Looking skyward, Spyro saw the night was rapidly approaching. Crickets were already beginning to chirp and the owls began their monotonous songs. Time was fleeting if they were to return to Warfang without fear of remnant attack. His mind was plagued with the possibilities of the dangers in the night, adding to the pile of questions he wanted answers to.

"We need to leave, it's not safe out here at night." Turning his back to her, he unfurled his wings but stopped before he took off. Felice wasn't following his example nor had she moved from her spot at all. "If we don't leave then we could be attacked by remnants of the Dark Army. I don't want you to get hurt."

"He's dead…"

"Yes, now please, we must go." He grabbed her wrist only to find it cold. It brought his attention downwards to see that her scales had somehow turned darker than before. "Felice what are you-" The words died in his mouth when her eyes went from green to white.

"Dead…" Jerking his paw back, fire surged up his throat. "...of course" The white dimed back to blue while the scales around her wrist lost their darkened shade. "I-I heard he died, I just didn't think it was true." A innocent smile quickly replaced the disbelief on her face. "I'm sorry if I worried you, I zone off sometimes."

"No worries, I do it sometimes too." He couldn't help but feel suspicious about where Felice came from. On the outside he made it look like he shrugged it off, but his mind was bustling with questions. "Don't worry, I'm sure we can still find someone to help you in Warfang. We just need to get there first."

"Oh! Right." She nervously giggled before spreading her wings out. For the moment he could see it, he saw how large the burn was. Felice was in the sky before he could speak however, just as quickly winging out of sight. There was a moment he stayed behind and studied the area without the dragoness. _What happened here? What caused them to disagree in such a violent way?_ The image of the burn interrupted his thoughts, reminding him of his priorities.

Taking to the sky felt harder than usual, too many questions were begging him back to the ground. _What is she? Is she somehow related to Eclipse? What if she's another one of Malefor's secret dragons like Armavir?_ His eyes wandered along the dark blue scales when he caught up to her. _Why does she feel familiar?_


	3. Chapter 2

"I'll be back soon, just save a seat for me at dinner." Spyro left with Cyril shortly after, his purple scales disappearing behind a tower. No one spoke at first, everyone was still deciphering the secrecy. How is Cynder a reason to keep it secret? Why is it a secret? Aurora found Cynder was staring at her and trying to lock eyes. A quick flash of anger startled her when she did look into the bright emeralds.

A part of her was still trying to cope with his death, trying to find a reason for everything that happened. There were times where she felt that it was her fault, that she wasn't there enough to keep his anger under control. Other times it was someone else's fault. Her mind would race itself in every direction, blaming everyone else. Cynder and Spyro were the main victims of these tangents. No matter how much she didn't want to, she knew that it was his decision in the end.

"I'm sure that it's purple dragon business Cynder." Ardere offered, breaking the silence.

"Then why didn't Cyril tell me? He wouldn't have a reason to hid it from me." Cynder's eyes had moved on to Nathora.

"Let the Elder's do what they want, Spyro will tell us when he comes back." Frost stretched his wings out, wafting out cold air to the circle as he did so.

"Spyro is more likely not to, his loyalty to them is strong." Ardere pointed out, spreading out his own warmth. Aurora moved in closer to him, letting him put a wing around her back. A small smile spread across her face when she felt how fast his heart was beating.

He never told her about his feelings towards her nor did he ever give a reason for acting so cold towards Eclipse. No matter how much he tried to hid it from the rest of them, she could always tell that he had stronger feelings than she did. It made her feel sorry for him, but she could never return his affection.

"I think his loyalty to Cynder is stronger." Cynder blushed as Aurora spoke.

"I don't-"

"You two are more adorable than you think." Nathora smiled.

"Look who's talking." She fired back with a grin.

"That's enough of that…" Frost casually stepped between them. "...who's hungry? I know I'm starving."

"You guys go ahead, I'm a little tired." Aurora stepped out from under Ardere's wing and started down the stairs.

"Oh no you don't." He grabbed her tail. "You're coming with us."

"Frost…" She groaned while tugging her tail.

"You spend too much time alone in that room, it's not healthy." Spinning her around, he stole her gaze. "So now your going to walk with us to the hall to eat. Besides, you look like you need the exercise."

"Rude."

"Just telling it as I see it."

"C'mon Aurora, I'll let you hide under my wing if you want." Ardere raised one of his wings invitingly. Why are they trying so hard? I'm perfectly fine.

"I don't hide under your wing, your just warm." She defended herself.

"Either way, just come with us." Cynder stood next to her brother. "It's not like you have anything better to do right now right?"

"I guess you're right…" She sighed. Hopefully now they can stop bothering me about it than. "...we leaving now?"

Ardere helped shield her from the cold autumn winds, giving off extreme warmth as he did so. The nights of sleeping under his wing came back to haunt her. All that time spent under the cloak of darkness made her wish it was still here. She hated using Ardere for comfort, it wasn't right, but there was still that initial loneliness. The way his heart raced, his glances at her under his wing, the pure joy on his face and she was using it for selfish needs.

The conversation faded out of her ears along with the blue skies. Getting lost in her thoughts and guilt seemed to come with the dusk. Soon even the fire dragon's warmth ceased shielding her from the cold air. Small nips seeped in through the barrier, breaking her from the trance.

Cynder and Nathora led them from the front, smiling and laughing between each other. She stayed between her brother and Ardere, using the fire dragon as a mobile fireplace once again. The two's conversation revolved around food, causing her to smile. What is it with males and their overwhelming desire for food?

"All I'm saying is that the hunting parties should go out to different parts of the continent. There's nothing left to fear now that the Dark Army is destroyed." Ardere's argument managed to reach her.

"They will eventually, they're just waiting for Terrador to give them permission to. The scout corps can only secure parts of land so fast."

"Maybe they should deploy the reserves, get things done more quickly."

"That would defeat the purpose of the reserves, we fill in any gaps in the main corps if someone is injured or sick." Frost's explanation made him grumble. "You can always go out with the hunting parties or take your class out."

"If anything that's your girlfriend's job" She heard him snicker.

"She's not my girlfriend!" A thump over her head meant that Frost had hit him.

"Behave you two." Her enjoyment leaked into her voice.

"Fine." Their monotone unison made her smile more. She caught Nathora looking back at them, she wanted those words to be different. There was something between them, but neither of them wanted to act on it. Scared of denial. She knew what that felt like, wanting someone but not knowing if they want you back.

"Can you hear the wedding bells Ardere? I sure can." Cynder laughed when she noticed what Nathora was doing. He began to laugh too then shortly after, so did Aurora.

"Between the two of you…" Frost trailed off, shaking his head.

"Watch out!" She looked up just in time to see someone crash into her and Ardere. Her head was spinning and her vision was foggy. "I'm sorry, I hurt my wing out there and-"

"Don't worry about it. I'm just glad it was an accident and not on purpose." She rubbed the back of her head.

"I wouldn't do that, especially to someone of your stature." The dragon gave a hearty laugh before offering her help. "I truly am sorry though." Grabbing onto his paw, he helped her off the street.

Heat rushed onto her cheeks as she felt the warmth of his paw and looked into his orange eyes. Who is he? Why does he feel familiar? His scales suggested that he was a young fire dragon, not much older than her, yet they were so dark that they looked black. Aurora saw the faint traces of the dragons own blush on his cheeks.

"As I said it's fine…" The words fell without any voice, she was too busy looking at him to sound coherent. He was taller than her, maybe even taller than Ardere. Ardere! Looking behind her, she only saw everyone snickering and smiling. I'm making myself look like an idiot. "Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Well, if you could point me to the Elder Guardians, I would be grateful." A toothy grin caused her breath to hitch.

"Sure, the-"

"Why don't you go with him? This city can be like a maze to newcomers." She shot Cynder a glare but she only smiled wider.

"That would be helpful." He sounded awkward behind her. I'm going to kill her.

"But Frost was prac-"

"We'll save a seat for you." I'm going to kill them both.

"You're already saving a seat for-"

"It's not much of a stretch to save two seats." Frost patted her back with his wing. "Just don't get lost."

"What are you doing?" She tried to make her voice shallow enough so that only he could here.

"I'm making sure that your friend here doesn't get lost." He didn't share her desire for secrecy.

"I'm sure he can find his way around." She used her glare on him now but it didn't seem to work either. "Fine, but you two owe me." He looked like he would be pleading on his knees if they weren't in public.

"Glorious, we'll see you soon then." Frost then tried to usher Ardere away.

"I'll see you guys there." He guided his wing off him before stepping to her. Ardere… They looked at each other and something passed in the silence. With a nod, her brother walked away, everyone else in tow. "We didn't catch your name." His serious tone shifted to a more casual one.

"Oh sorry," She could feel a settling tension as they looked at each other. "...name's Marek. Your's?"

"Ardere, and the damsel in distress over there is Aurora." He grinned while passing his eyes to her.

"I am not a damsel in distress!" They both chuckled at her defense.

"I disagree." Marek's laughter died off. "Anyway, you two were going to show me to the Elders?"

"Follow me before she starts hitting us." Ardere took a step forward.

"Too late." Her wing batted him on the side of the head. She giggled as he playfully stumbled backwards as if he was actually hurt.

"I yield, I yield." He bowed his head while laughing. ...why are you trying so hard? She joined him, quickly followed by Marek.

They went on their way, weaving in and out of the streets. Vendors begun to close their stands as the blue hue to the sky faded. Birds were replaced by crickets and the clouds blended in to the darkening sky. By the time they were within eyesight of the temple, most of the people were off the streets.

The Guardian's Temple was one of the first projects to be both initiated and completed after what happened under the Broken Mountain. Most of it was actually underground, only a domed building poked up. She's never been inside the temple but some of the initiates say that there's a room that can fit the Hall in it with space to spare.

Ardere and Marek conversed to themselves, her choosing to think to herself rather than interact with the newcomer. She did watch him however, silently trying to figure out his presence and why someone foreign doesn't come off as that. Why are you so hard are to understand? Her thoughts betrayed her, giving her ways to make him fall for her. They also gave ways to avoid him however, mostly just her locking herself in her room again.

She caught Ardere staring at her and she could see the thoughts culminating behind his yellow eyes. At times she could read him like a scroll but sometimes he can be as cryptic as Cynder. This was different however, she knew what was causing him to look at her like that but not why. Why now Ardere? Why did you wait so long?

"So, Marek, what's your business with the Elders?" He reverted his attention back to their companion.

"My father has been missing for a few months and I was hoping that they could point me in the right direction." Marek quickly took a more serious tone.

"What direction do you hope to be pointed in?" He raised an eyebrow, stealing a glance at her for reassurance.

"Best case scenario is the can tell me where he is. Worst case is that they point me to someone that can help." They stopped outside the large doors, with Ardere letting Aurora under his wing once more. She noticed that his muscles didn't relax when she slid in next to him. Why are you on edge? Looking up to him, she only found him staring at Marek. "At that point I would hope that they can bring me to see Eclipse."

"Well I'm afraid you'll need to find someone else." His response was rapid and straight to the point. The wing covering her tried to move her away from them. It was in vain though, her mind was already recounting every memory it could of him. From the village to the Broken Mountain, it was already overwhelming her.

"But he's-"

"He's dead…" She didn't know she spoke until they both looked at her. Ardere's warmth faded from her scales but he didn't move. Marek's orange eyes flashed kept flashing to white while his expression became sinister.

The space around them darken to the grey rock of the caves and the fading sunlight flickered in the torches. Scales of red, black, blue and purple laid around her while their groans coated her ears. A nightmare stood across the expanse with a wide smile and excited yellow eyes, but it was the ghost that stole her attention.

She remembered the struggle in his eyes and the wall that kept him from her. The fear of seeing death again continued to try and undermine her courage. White eyes jumped between her and the unconscious hero behind her. There was nothing keeping him from going through her, from following Malefor's orders. Then his front leg slid from under him and her bowed to her.

"I can't do this." Disbelief quickly followed but she knew what he meant. "I can't keep living like this."

"What are you-"

"Kill me." He looked up to her, the corruption still holding him. "Kill me please."

"You know I can't do that." Her paw instinctively went under his chin, summoning his body out of submission. "I won't hurt you."

"I don't know what to do. Tell me, what I need to do." The corruption flickered for a moment, his silver eyes giving her hope.

"I need you with me..." Pulling him in, she placed a soft kiss on his lips. Everything seemed to flow out of him while they were connected. The wrongness faded, slowly being replaced with the normal sweetness.

"...and I need you with me." He ended it by pulling away, just in time for her to see the white leave his eyes. Behind them, the wisps trapping Frost and Ardere disappeared and allowed them to move. "Find me."

"What?" The ghost flickered, maroon filling in the silver. Backing away, she noticed that everything was moving slower.

"Come find me." He closed the space as if he wasn't affected like everyone else. "Come free me."

"Aurora!" Reality was thrusted back on her mind with Ardere's shout. The warmth returned in a rushed frenzy and her senses adjusted to the cityscape. Both Marek and Ardere was giving her worried looks. "There you are."

Eclipse's last words frenzied her mind, echoing while it waited for an answer. What does he mean. It doesn't make sense, he's dead. How do you free a dead person? Her head began to hurt as the confusion battered against its walls. Nothing feels right. Ardere and Marek were talking to each other but she couldn't hear what they were saying.

"What?" The question seemed to startle them both.

"Are you okay? You started zoning off and talking to yourself." Marek beat Ardere to the concern. She stumbled out of Ardere's embrace while holding her head. Is he trapped somehow? Who trapped him? How is he still alive? "Hey, steady." He caught her before she could fall. His warmth was different from Ardere's, it felt empty.

"No, I need to-" Ardere quickly helped him keep her up, all four of her legs giving out simultaneously. "Where is he."

"What's wrong with her?" Together they gently set her on the ground.

"I don't know, she's never been this delirious." Ardere's answer managed to spiral her mind more.

"I'm fine." The retaliation came out more softly than she realized.

"What do you mean by 'this delirious'?" Marek muscles tensed up.

"Aurora's still recovering from Eclipse's death. The doctor said that she may struggle coming to terms with it."

"I'm fine." Her voice didn't reach higher than before.

"But that was months ago!" The hostility spiked in the maroon dragon, his boiling temper making more questions than her head can answer.

"They were close, he died for her twice and showed his dedication a dozen times." She knew that he was trying to keep his own anger in check. "It had a profound effect on her."

"Profund is a understatement if you ask me! She just collapsed after spacing out with neither of us able to refocus her." Marek continued to yell while gesturing to her.

"You don't know what he meant to her or to any of us!" He began shouting back, all his patience gone.

"I'm going to be okay." They ignored her, their shouting match becoming more of a priority. Did Spyro do it on accident? Or did he do it no purpose? He killed him. More question appeared than answers. Her mind felt like it was unraveling.

"Four months is a long time to be mourning someone!"

"It's not when that person dedicated their entire existence to you!" They were in each other's faces, still shouting mere inches away.

"Stop arguing." They continued fight. How do I stop them? How do I save him? Where do I save him? She covered herself with her wings, trying to block them out. More questions piled up inside and she felt something shift inside. A raising breath turned more violent, the winds pushing it up faster than she thought she could. "Stop!"

They turned their heads in time to be sent backwards, their claws latching on to the stones of the street. Her lungs were weak and empty, everything came out unexpectedly. All the questions ran out with the sudden surge of energy, she felt clear. Whatever shifted, shifted back into place, locking her out of that power.

"Aurora?" Ardere looked both afraid and confused.

"What was that?" Marek, however, looked like she had just peaked his interests since they met.

"I-I don't know…" She trailed off, looking down at herself to try and understand what happened. "Let's get you somewhere to stay." Her hostility even shocked herself.

"O-Of course." Ardere stattered, one of the few times shes seen him do it. "That is why we came on this little adventure in the first place right?"

"Yes." Marek's eyes didn't leave her until his head wouldn't allow them to continue. "Sorry for my outburst, I'm a bit of a hot-head sometimes."

"It's a fire dragon thing." She only saw Ardere smile. Looking up to the sky, two shapes were getting larger the longer she watched them. Against the dark purple background, she managed to identify the purple dragon rapidly approaching. The other dragon looked like Marek but as they got closer, their scales lightly reflected dark blue instead of maroon.

Spyro stopped above them with a surprised look on his face. The blue dragon sped up in a downwards line. Marek looked up with a smile at the blue dragon as their collided, the two of them kicking up bits of stone and dust when the force met the ground. A bright light came from the brown fog, forcing her to only hear them wrestle behind it.

The dust settled and behind it they stared at each other. They both smiled at each other, the smiles turning into laughs. Spyro landed besides them, sharing and exchanging their both worried and confused expressions.

"If I didn't know any better I'd say that you weren't trying." Marek spoke through his hearty laughter.

"It was supposed to be a hug Marek, not a wrestling match!" She continued to giggle.

"Sorry for the intrusion, but who's this?" Her question slipped out.

"Aurora, Ardere, this is my sister Felice."


	4. Chapter 3

"Didn't think you would hug him after what he did to you." Everyone peered at the burn along Felice's side.

"You did that?"

"I did say I'm a bit of a hot-head." The siblings laughed again. "Besides, she gave me one to match." Lifting his other wing up and the frostbitten scales revealed themselves.

"I've also had far worse than this." Felice smacked the frostbitten scales before jumping out of her brother's reach. "So has he."

"This is normal for you two?" Aurora let Ardere pull her in to him as she asked.

"We're not exactly model siblings, we fight all the time." Marek answered with a wide smile. "We try to get along but it doesn't work for very long."

"That's an understatement." Marek grabbed her like Ardere did to Aurora. "We've always made up afterwards though. Kinda have to now that we're the only family we got left." Felice's smile dropped with the somber tone.

"With our mother dead and our father missing, we're the last ones standing" The brother's tone shifted slightly but managed to keep a small amount of joy in it. He released her before dropping his wing back down, hiding his injury. Felice pulled Spyro away for a moment and started to speak with him privately.

"Do you know anything about your father that might help find him?" Ardere eyed the two of them closely.

"Father left when we were still in our eggs, all we know is that he was close with Eclipse before the world fell apart." The brothers explanation confused Aurora more than she already was. _What kind of father would abandon his children?_

"You don't know his name?" He continued his questions while she thought to herself.

"Mother never told us, said he was too far gone for it to matter. Whatever that meant." She noticed that Marek had followed Ardere's gaze to his sister and Spyro.

"Did Eclipse ever mention any other dragons in the Dark Army?" He finally took his eyes off them and looked at her beneath his his wing.

"No, he only mentioned Cynder and Mal-" She stopped herself, another question derailing her train of thought. _Could they be related? Their scale color suggested as much._ Aurora studied Marek closer but she couldn't find what she was looking for. _Was he trying to have a second life? If he did, then why?_ "No one that we haven't already met."

"Maybe he's like Armavir, someone Malefor kept hidden from everyone." He left her to her own devices, turning his attention back to Marek. "We'll find him. With the Dark Army defeated it will be easy."

"Good to hear. Truth be told, me and my sister need him. Being on the run was taking its toll on us both." He scratched the back of his head, Felice coming back next to him.

'We should get that home assignment now, I'm exhausted." Felice whipped him with her tail.

"Yes we should. The sooner we get a bed to sleep in the better." Marek's eyes sparkled to her before he turned around. _He wants something._ "Could you bring us to the Elders Aurora?"

"I can, I need to give them my report anyway." Spyro stepped forward, momentarily blocking her view of him.

"We should get the the Hall anyway, our friends are waiting for us." Ardere was guiding her with his wing. _They're keeping me away from him? Why?_

"But I want to see the inside of the temple." She really didn't but questions needed answers.

"I'll show you tomorrow after I'm done with my classes. The Elders will be busy with Spyro, Felice and Marek anyway." His reasoning was sound but the tone he said it in told her that he was impatient. _Jealousy? Or something else?_ Ardere's patience was legendary but he was never short fused with her.

"I'm just going to follow them, you can give me a more in-depth tour tomorrow." She slid out from his wing, catching the group before the door. She saw the anger and disappointment on his face as the door closed. Part of her didn't like leaving him as she did but she wanted to learn why Spyro was keeping her away from Marek.

The temple was as she expected, vast but empty. _Must not have had time to decorate around here._ The deeper they went however, there was more signs of life. Lit torches lined the walls and dirty but visible mosaic patterns had a faint orange tint. The few scattered initiates greeted them as they passed before continuing their tasks.

Spyro was silent next to her, keeping his head down and his gaze to the floor. Marek and Felice whispered to each other below their breaths. While the walls begged to be watched, her attention was to the usually friendly hero next to her. He had a small bag around his chest with a small healing crystal poking out.

"What's wrong?" She startled him.

"Nothing, just…" His voice trailed off.

"Thinking?" She offered with a small smile.

"Yeah, thinking." He gave a smile back.

"Your answer scares me."

"Why?"

"Last time you thought this hard, people died." The last time he thought so hard, he became corrupted and attacked Eclipse.

"Last time I thought this hard, I wasn't entirely myself." She appreciated his honesty. Even though she didn't speak to him, she heard that him and Cynder had a conversation about his jealousy. From what she understood, Spyro had felt that Cynder was abandoning him for Eclipse.

Spyro stopped her before she could continue but she couldn't understand why. He quickly pushed Marek and Felice before stepping in front of them. The voices of the Elders echoed the tunnels, the topic made her understand.

"We need to root them out!" Terrador seemingly slammed a fist down on the table. "The longer they continue with this propaganda, the more power dissent spreads through the city."

"Where do you suggest we start then? Kicking down doors? Spying on our own people? Making pre-emptive arrests?" Volteer's voice matched Terrador's volume and aggression.

"Of course not!"

"Then what? We have no idea where to even start!"

"We need to publicly denounce them." Cyril sounded more calm than his counterparts.

"Oh, suddenly you know who's involved? Please, grace us with your unlimited knowledge!" Volteer continued to shout.

"Don't take that tone to me! I will not have it!" Marek's scales began to subtly glow red, barely tinting Aurora's chest. His sister took notice and instantly started to whisper to him, panic reaching her eyes.

"If your going to start making suggestions then you should be able to give reasons for them!" Spyro caught her eyes before moving into the room.

"Quit it the three of you!" He attempted to make his presence quickly known.

"I don't see you contributing anything besides condescendence!" He went unnoticed however. The shouting match continued to get more hostile, even with Spyro trying to defuse it. Felice and Marek continued to speak to each other, his glow becoming more and more distinct. _I need to stop this. They can't break apart now._

The familiar feeling of something inside her shifting told her that she was thinking at least somewhat right. She entered the room with the battling elders, jumping onto the table as fast as she could. "Enough!" Dust was kicked up around the room in a ring around her. The four dragons stopped instantly, all turning to face her.

"Who gave you the-"

"Volteer! Shut it!" Terrador pushed him out of the way, silencing him in the same motion. "I apologize for whatever you may have heard Aurora. Ignitus may have been the fire Elder but we can get temperamental at times."

"I understand, I can get the same way myself sometimes." Spyro helped her off the table. Marek and Felice soon entered the room behind them, the glow from earlier having dissipated. "Now if we can avoid crises for a moment, I would like to introduce Marek and Felice."

"I humbly apologize for our behavior young dragons, rebuilding a fractured city has us stressed at the moment." Cyril put forward their collective apology, Volteer and Terrador both bowing their heads in agreement.

"They need somewhere to stay, they're refugees of sorts." She cut Spyro off before he could speak, his mouth only letting a sigh of defeat escape before closing again.

"Well um…" He looked to his fellow Elders before continuing. "I believe we don't have any space available to-"

"I can think of a room in the eastern tower, if they can share a room that is." Terrador broke his silence.

"I thought it was off limits." Spyro stepped forward.

"It isn't anymore. Though Aurora would need to visit it before the two can move in." She instantly knew where Terrador wanted them to stay. _That's his room, our room. He can't do that, everything is still there._

"There has to be somewhere else!" She didn't mean to let her frustration leak through her words.

"Unless you want to surrender your room in the western tower than I'm afraid Terrador is right." The Ice Elder brought her attention to him. "I'm sorry Aurora, but as amazing the moles construction abilities are, they're too busy reconstructing larger more important buildings."

"This city is only, maybe a third, functional. Between Eclipse's and Armavir's sieges, we don't have the space to host anymore refugees." Volteer finally spoke backup.

"Are you sure there's nowhere else they can go? Can't they stay here in the temple? I know that all the initiates stay here." She continued to push.

"Only initiates are allowed to stay within the temple." Cyril's answer made him give out a frustrated sigh. _I can't let them find anything Eclipse would want anyone to find, but am I strong enough to do it?_

"Fine, they can take my room. I just need to collect my personal items if that's okay." She didn't give them time to answer, storming out of the room and up to the surface as fast as she could. From the heavy footsteps behind her, she could tell that Spyro was behind her.

The door opened the world wide with her wings following soon after. Artificial winds pulled her up from the ground, sending her forward to where she told them to take her. Spyro shouted something to her but she didn't listen to him, getting to her room was more important. Night's cold wind put her on the balcony and through the door seamlessly.

Her room was nothing special, she hadn't bothered to personalize it much as she practically lived with him before his death. The few items that held personally value was quickly packed in her old bag and slung around her chest. Her bag thumped against the small scars before settling. They were her constant reminder of how much he changed her world, whether it was for better or worse.

A hero landed on her balcony in time to block her from leaving, but a quick twirl over him ended the blockade. More words bounced off her as she used his back as a springboard to get airborne. He was back behind her quickly, his faint voice telling her as much. By the time she could see the eastern tower, the hero had fallen farther behind. More artificial wind shoved her inside and closed the door all at once.

 _It's like he hasn't been gone for a day…_ Her internal voice disappeared under the flurry of memories that were reawakened. In the steps forward, she removed the bag and dropped it to the floor, her entire body collapsing a few steps after it.

A pillow found itself trapped beneath her, she soon realized that it was his personal pillow. The entire object, from the light black fabric to the darker black buttons, sent cold comfort into her white scales. She remembered their last night together and the following more lonely night. Aurora hadn't been inside their room in nearly four months but it truly felt like she hadn't left for a day.

The respite threatened to break her already fragile mind. Swiftly getting to her feet, she moved over to reclaim her bag then went to the chest near the balcony. Steeling her mind for the skeletons that could be inside, she threw open the lid. Old momentos were all that was left for her to find.

Her bag slipped off her shoulder as she started to dig through the contents. A breath was caught in her throat when she found the blade that took him the first time. She didn't even realize that he'd kept it or that he had cleaned it of his blood. Holding it up for the moonlight to reflect, she saw her reflection in the stainless metal.

That was when she realized that her friends were right about her self-induced isolation. She had been gaining weight, her bright eyes had lost their purity and even her gleaming white scales had dulled. She let herself go, something that she promised never to do when Eclipse was alive. The blade was chucked away before she could continue to rate her appearance.

Her gaze landed on a folded piece of paper that was hidden under the blade. Carefully picking it up, she ran a talon over the still pristine material. Flipping it over, she saw her name neatly written on the front. _When did he write this? Why did he write this?_ Rapidly opening it, she began to read it word for word with his voice. Line for line, paragraph for paragraph, she took it all in.

Looking into over the letter, she peered into the chest for the object described by pen. It was a small, grey box resting next to a drawn picture of her sleeping. She careless dropped the letter and took the box in both paws. The back of her mind commanded her to not open it but her emotions told her the opposite.

She felt the world stop breathing as she stared at ring. The ring was made out of what she assumed to be silver that constantly wrapped around itself. At the top was a small crown that served at the throne for a perfectly shaped onyx. The note he left for himself forced tears to her eyes. _You are the reason I can feel again…_ She looked over it one more time before slipping it on.

"Get out." She heard him open the door and immediately growled.

"I wouldn't be a good brother if I did that." Frost voice surprised her. He picked the letter off the floor and started to read it. "Ancestors… Aurora. I'm so sorry." She threw herself into him, his wings pulling her as close as they could. "I'm so, so sorry."

The tears fearlessly flowed down he face and onto her brothers cheeks. Sobs were the only sounds in the room, the two of them stood their in the doorway. Part of her didn't care if anyone else saw her like this but that didn't stop Frost from closing the door with his tail.

She let him run his paw down the back of her neck over and over again, his touch being the most soothing thing she could think of. Nuzzling deeper into him, she let the soft beating of his heart calm her. Her emotions dropped to the floor among the tears, ridding themselves from her.

"You found the ring didn't you?" His question broke through her sadness. All she could do was simply nod, she didn't really care how he knew. "I'm so sorry I didn't tell you sooner. I thought it would be best to wait until I thought you were ready."

She didn't know how long it took for her to shed her last tear, it was only when he brought her to rest on a pillow did she fully open her eyes. It was the signs that her brother had cried with her that brought her attention to his face. His silent sobs were all that she could see.

"When did he ask you?" She brought her head back down to rest on his chest so he couldn't see he face.

"The day before the siege, he showed me the ring he crafted and asked for my blessing. He said 'she's the reason I can feel my heart beat again.'. How could I say no to that?" He went back to softly petting the top of her head again. "If I had known what would happen, I would've pushed him to do it then."

"I miss him."

"I know you do, I know." His soothing words brought peace to her.

"Tomorrow I'm going to fly out there for the day. To visit him." Her plans appeared in her head with his image.

Her mind shifted the world around it, bringing it back to the past that tormented her. Her eyes closed and the feeling of something poking her made her force away a giggle. A nuzzle under her chin made her groan at the dragon in question, but he only laughed at her.

"You need to get up." A light kiss finally made her release the giggle from earlier.

"But you missed." She couldn't stop the smile from spreading across her face.

"Kissing sleeping beauties isn't in my job description. I can't have you sleeping in my room all day." Letting her eyes open, she let a content sigh escape her lips as she stared into the silver orbs.

"It's actually our room." She stretched her muscles outwards, gently pushing a pillow away from her.

"How about you get your brother and Ardere for breakfast? I'll meet you there." Watching him exit to the balcony, she got to her feet. He looked over the cityscape as she joined him, resting her head on his shoulder.

"Where are you going?"

"I need to talk to Spyro and Cynder. I won't be long." Her headrest was pulled out from under her as he lept off towards the guardian's chambers. She watched him sour away, paranoia telling her to follow him to see if it really was just a conversation. "You can free me." He somehow appeared next to her, even though he had just flew off.

"How? Tell me how!" She begged him.

"The pillars of fire will burn us all." The tower erupted like a volcano, throwing her to the streets below. The screams of burning citizens shattered the peace along with the low pitched growls of the literal pillars of fire. Parts of her burned hotter than Ardere's fire breath while the other parts were trampled by the hordes of victims. "Find me."

She pushed her brother away as reality dropped down on her. Dropping to the ground, her paws instinctively went to her temples. Frost put himself around her, curling around her like a barrier. The cold embrace didn't stop the nightmare from silently repeating itself in her mind. Between the bellowing towers to the less fortunate that were caught in the blast, her mind was trapped in a nightmare.

In truth, she felt like she understood what is was like to be Eclipse during one of his meltdowns. The feeling of hopelessness and grief as the charred faces rapidly sprinted through her mind. To her the worst part was not having someone like he did, someone that she could trust like he trusted her. By the time they stopped, her body was exhausted to the point where she wanted to fall asleep.

"Now you know what it's like, to be one of us." Frost kept her awake.

"One of us?" She managed to turn herself over to face him.

"Eclipse wasn't the only one to be haunted by the past. He also wasn't the only one you saved." He explained softly. "Ardere never had the same outbursts as he did, but we talked while the two of you slept. One of the first nights after we lost home, Ardere thought about killing himself. Had it not been for your survival, I'm sure he would've."

"How come he never mentioned this to me?"

"He didn't want to worry you with his problems. He thought it was best to see you happy while not knowing instead of not happy while knowing." Frost extended his free wing over her. "I would be lying if I said that I didn't think about it also."

"Frost-"

"We lost everything Aurora, everything. I don't think I would've walked away had it not been for you." A tear slid down to the floor below. "You've saved more lives than you think." He swiftly got up, leaving her for the door outside. "I just wanted you to know that, you're not alone. No matter how dark our lives get, we always got each other."

"I love you Frost." She blurted out but she didn't regret it.

"I love you too Aurora, don't forgot that." He slowly opened the door, casted another loving look back to her, then left with the door closing behind him.

She looked at the ring in the white moonlight, watching herself in the black reflection. _I've saved more than I realized, just like you._ Even the part of her that had moved on agreed that by having the ring, she now felt complete once again.


	5. Chapter 4

He knew he couldn't catch her, she was far too agile for him. Even from his experience flying with Cynder, he couldn't nearly move fast enough to even try to grab her. Aurora also knew the way to the western tower like the back of her paw, there was little chance of finding a way to get ahead of her.

Part of him thought that she was running from him, the memories he helped create, but that was the pessimist side of him. There was also the part of him that knew she needed to be alone and be given some space, but the thought of giving up was quickly ejected. It was the honorable part of him that was driving him, the part that wanted to keep his word.

There was nothing to do but yell to her to wait, but even that was futile. She either didn't hear him over her own thoughts, or she didn't care what he said. Whichever it was, she didn't slow down for him.

The door was already closed by the time he landed on the balcony. Her tumble inside was both graceful and clumsy. He knocked on the door and called inside but she didn't answer him. His paw went to the knob on the door, his thoughts telling him to both open and not open it. Understanding he took his paw off the knob and unfurled his wings. _She doesn't need me._

Warfang laid dormant for the most part, the war torn city had little signs of life during the night hours. The only people awake at this time were usually guards and the ones who went for a late dinner. This is the time where he thinks to himself, reflecting on anything that wanted the spotlight. Tonight was just the memories of the black ghost, the same ones that dominated his sleep and waking hours alike.

In the short amount of time he had been there, he had made a lasting impact on anyone he was around. _How did he find a way to balance himself? How did he find the will to live through the desire to die?_ The black dragon's actions and words reminded him of his first encounter with Malefor. As his mind wandered, the siblings flew up besides him.

"Do you mind if we tag along?" He absently nodded at her question.

"What's wrong?" Marek looked at him.

"Nothing, just thinking." His answer didn't seem to please him.

"Bout what?" He pried further.

"Nothing you should worry yourselves with." Felice shook her head at Marek as if to signal him to stop. "Where are you guys headed?"

"We were hoping that you would show us where the 'Hall' is." She answered for her brother, who was looking at the streets below them.

"Sure, that's not an issue. I'm suppose to meet some friends there anyway." Her smile brought him some relief. They fell behind him, speaking to each other in hushed voices. Spyro didn't mind, it left him alone to his thoughts and his own private conversation.

Armavir's attack on the Hall had left it scarred but not ruined. The older, cracked bricks still held firm and supported the newer ones. Parts of the building would require it to be completely torn down and rebuilt. The moles wanted to fix them, but instead they just put up exterior supports, making it look like a spider.

He spied the familiar black scales as he entered the Hall, they were some of the few people inside. The six of them were sitting near the back of the hall where the names of the victims were inscribed on the wall. Some of them he remembered, the two younger dragonets in specific. He managed to blame himself for their deaths, that pessimistic side of himself told him that he wasn't observant enough to notice Armavir in the crowd. Even when Cynder assured him that it wasn't anyone's fault, that line of thinking held true.

The idea of sitting under the names of the dead made him feel uneasy and anxious but he didn't want to make that clear to the siblings. Ember leaned over the table and said something to Cynder. Her head jerked around with alarm plastered across it, but that died down to confusion before she turned back. The pink dragoness quickly adopted the same expression as they continued to make their way towards them.

Both Marek and Ardere looked disgruntled when they sat next to each other, with Felice urging them to make up for what happened at the temple. Flame still looked miserable, his wing was still wrapped in bandage from the explosion. He noted the medical satchel next to Ember as he passed her, a nearly empty roll of bandage poking out of the cover.

"Where's Aurora?" Frost whispered to him before he could speak.

"She's in Eclipse's old room and I think she could use you right now." He pushed Spyro out of the way as he rushed out. Nathora tried to follow him but he grabbed her tail and shook his head before she could.

"Where's he going?" Cynder watched him leave while wearing the same face as the others.

"Family issues." He glanced at the siblings who also watched him leave. She seemed to understand the gesture as she didn't push further.

"Are you going to introduce us?" Ember asked with a small amount of impatience.

"I was getting to that." He laughed. "Ember, Flame, this is Marek and Felice. Marek and Felice, meet Ember and Flame."

"It's nice to meet both of you." Felice smiled at them while Marek simply nodded.

"Same with you." Ember returned the smile but Flame didn't respond. "You'll have to ignore him, he's been down about his wing for sometime now."

"I can relate to that, I'm not myself when I'm not around Felice for long." He patted Felice's shoulder. "You could say that she 'cools me off'."

"I know that you two only just got here, you haven't even been to where you'll be living, but I'd like to invite you to the Academy." Spyro offered as he sat down, everyone's head turned to him.

"Spyro, We can't take them on. The current class is already filled and no one has anymore spots in their flights." He smiled at her concerns.

"I'll just teach them on my off time, as personal students." Felice's face lit up.

"How are you going to handle preparing for your classes outside of these two?" She continued.

"I have enough free time as it is, I wouldn't mind dedicating another hour or so to make sure I don't fall behind." He was already fixing his mental daily schedule to better fit the siblings.

"You-"

"Cynder, calm down, I'll handle it." Spyro cut her off before she could continue. "With all concerns aside, you two going to accept?"

"Yeah, I'm su-"

"I don't think it's a good idea to accept, at least not for me." Marek mimicked him, cutting off his sister before she could finish. "I could lose my temper like before."

"We thought the same thing about Ardere when we first started." Cynder teased the fire dragon, sticking her tongue out at him. He only grunted at her. "While it was a rough road when we started last year, he managed to keep it in check most of the time. You'll be fine."

"What if Aurora teaches me?" He asked with almost a pleading tone. "I'm sure she would be a good teacher for me." Cynder caught his attention with the curious glit in her eye. We're on the same page about that at least.

"Aurora's not an instructor I'm afraid." Ardere beat him to it, the other fire dragon turning to listen to him. "She's too emotionally unstable to take on any students at the moment."

"Maybe I should ask her myse-" His sister caught him as he got up.

"I don't think it's a good idea to bother her, especially at this late of an hour." The siblings glared at each other. He saw Cynder cast a glance at Ardere, as well as her shifting her weight. Spyro readied himself, putting himself in a position to lunge over the table and onto the sister. A fight in here could be disastrous.

The tension made his wings start the tense up, almost threatening to open by themselves. Small puffs of smoke were rising up from Ardere's nose while his entire muzzle began to glow slightly orange. Ember moved around the table and almost casually helped Flame towards the door.

"Fine, I'll ask her next time I see her." Marek seemed to flush him with fresh air when he sat back down. Ardere's muzzle lost the orange glow and the smoke from his nose had dissipated. The three of them put replaced their weight to be comfortable again. "Besides, I'm going to have to decline."

"Why? It's a great opportunity to meet new people and get used to city," He asked, with the other two looking at him the same way. "and don't worry about your temper, we know how to handle an explosive fire dragon."

"It would be weird, I've never been in a classroom nor have I had any real experience with people outside my family." Marek stole a quick glance at Felice.

"Socially awkward students isn't new, nor are students who've never been in a academic setting. Just ask Nathora, her own brother wasn't exactly the most social of butterflies when he first enrolled." He reassured him with Nathora nodding in agreement.

"Could I meet him? Maybe he can help me." He looked over to her.

"Norgon has been gone for a few months now, he left after an accident during training." Norgon left after the death of one of the other students, he blamed himself for it and left the city the next day without telling anyone. Nathora went after him for the first week but he didn't come back with her. She either knew where he was going and didn't tell, or she never found him. His disappearance is on the list of events he felt guilty for.

"That doesn't help." He sighed, looking to his sister.

"Just accept the invitation. It wouldn't hurt to learn a few things while we figure out what to do next right?" Her smile jumped onto his face, giving him a small laugh as it landed.

"What would I learn if I changed my mind." The energy arced it's way to him as well, their sudden light-heartedness putting him in a happier mood.

"Well, assuming that everyone would want to teach you; history from me, magic from Frost, survival skills from Nathora, Smit-"

"Blacksmithing?" Marek lit up, his voice dripping with his desire. Ardere rapidly shook his head while glaring at him with wide eyes.

"Yes, which is taught by Ardere." His head jerked in the other fire dragon's direction, locking their attention to one another. Felice moved between them casually, as both an object to block their line of sight of each other and refocus her brother. "Though as I said, he would have to agree to teach you between classes."

"No."

"Ardere." Cynder groaned, nudging him.

"I would rather keep my temper than lose it teaching him." He spat the last word out as if it was poison. The sister winced as it hit her which Ardere seemed to quickly noticed as it drew his glare off of the brother. "I'm sorry, but maybe you can ask the guard blacksmith to take you on as an apprentice."

"I thought I would lose my temper with you and that never happened." Again he changed who he looked at, subdued anger now being visible in his eyes.

"That's because you're more tolerant than I am, I also never argued about Cynder's mental state now did I?" His focus came full circle, returning to the brother. _He's holding a grudge, but why?_

"I'm not going to apol-"

"Don't start Marek, we just got here," Her voice of reason stopped him before he could escalate it. "and you, don't hold a grudge. Grudges destroy people." He grumbled before turning himself into the opposite direction.

"I won't force you to but I think you should, helps get rid of any bad blood between the two of you." Ardere absently nodded without facing him. "It's getting late, we should turn in for the night. We all have a busy day tomorrow."

Ardere was the first to leave, he made an excuse about needing to get up early to make sure the forge was hot enough. The twins left shortly afterwards, with Nathora leading them to where they would be staying. She seemed distant and deep in thought as they flew away, but it was too late to really worry about it.

He noticed her absence after he said his farewells. Part of his mind told him to leave her, that she was fine, but he ignored it like many other thoughts. Pushing the large Hall doors open, her black form was easy to find in the barely lite expanse. She turn around as the doors opened or as he walked down the aisle.

Her paw ran over the engraved names of the dead, as if she was still trying to reach them. The Elders never did say how many died in their war with Armavir, all they could do was imagine how many in his head. Many were lost in the assault on the city and even though he only knew a few of them, he felt the loss as if he knew them all. The scars of battle made him question himself or what he could've done different to save them.

"Forty-eight…" He slid his wing around her back. "...that's how many I've counted."

"We both know that there's more than that."

"I never said there wasn't, but we can't keep doing this. That's my count."

"We both know the number is far above that." She laughed at his grim assurance.

"Is it really in our nature? To want to fight each other into oblivion?" She looked to him, wearing her depressed thoughts on her face. "How can we ever come back if we just keeping fighting with each other?"

"I don't know how to answer that." He found her eyes, giving her his full attention.

"It's been four months, but I don't feel like the fight is over. It's as if I-"

"You can't stop." He finished for her, not wanting to hear it from her.

"Is that bad? Is it bad that the warrior inside me won't accept the peace?" She sounded like she was pleading to him.

"I won't say that it's bad, because it's not. It's just you." He answered with a hollow smile, hoping that she would drift off of the topic.

"It feels wrong. To want to fight while there's nothing to fight." Looking back to the wall, she put her head on his shoulder. "Maybe Eclipse had the right idea, end it before it becomes a problem."

"Don't say that."

"Why not? I'm not fit for this, not for peace." She moved to be face to face with him. A swirl of insecurity and longing shaking in her eyes.

"No one is, we've all been."

"Spyro, you've been fighting for only three years, I've fought for five times longer than that." Her green eyes collected her tears before they could fall, the water making the torchlight gleam off them more. She realized this and tried to wipe them away but they were just as quickly replaced as thrown away. "You don't understand how hard it is sometimes, to control my instincts and old habits."

"I do understand," A glance behind him and he saw that the few remaining occupants were staring at them. "but this is not the place to talk about this." She only nodded in response, following him out without a word.

While the flight to their shared apartment wasn't short, it felt like the longer than ever. The only thing telling him that she was still following him was the occasional wing beats and rarer sniffles that usually found themselves louder than intended. He didn't look back to check however, mostly due to being lost in his own thoughts.

Nothing of this conversation ever crossed his mind. He never thought that it would be difficult for someone like Cynder to adapt to a truly peaceful time. _How do I make her feel better? I really don't know what it's like to have been fighting since I was born._

The usual sounds of the night were missing from his ears, deep thinking numbing his hearing. A handful of windows still had orange glows of candles or fireplaces but the majority of the city was sleeping. Clouds hid the star filled sky from those below, scouting the city for a coming storm.

He had developed a kind of post-traumatic fear of storms, most of them carried some bad luck or signaled that something evil was coming. It reminded him of the fight in the courtyard and how he let his jealousy control him, how he let himself become the thing he hated. That fear held true even though nothing ever came of it over the months after everything happened.

They still remained silent when they landed, cold silence with her chilled him deeper than any northern wind could. Even as he lit the fire, he still felt like he was dunked under Dante's Freezer. She laid down in front of the fire, sighing as the orange warmth crawled over the cool black scales on her back. As he turned from closing the door, he found her staring at him.

Entrancement gilded him over to her and a small thought shimmered into his mind. It tapped against his temples, whispering for him to act upon it's wish. A future passed over his eyes, the future that begun its life at the center of the realms. The same future that shattered with the world and his integrity in the courtyard.

The same entrancement pulled him downward to lay next to her, keeping his eyes on hers as he did so. Her breathing hitched when he draped his wing over her back and pulled her closer than before. It was her heart's turn to beat a mile a minute as he could feel it's thumps through her body.

Something within his mind told him to show her what she means to him and at first, he ignored it. He simply wanted to enjoy her presence and how close she wanted him to be. Another part of him wondered if she was having the same thoughts as he was, or even if she wanted this. The thought of rejection scared him, he didn't want to feel that feeling again, especially from her.

One of the few things that still scared him was losing her, it didn't matter if it was just having her leave him for someone else or her dying. He couldn't do it again. The way she looked at him after his gravest mistake, it haunted him whenever he sheltered thoughts of his affection. In recent days, he found himself thinking of what he would do if she did leave for someone else.

He kissed her.

Relief ran over his entire body and put his mind to ease, joy following shortly afterwards. He wanted to smile as he felt her push into the kiss and her body relax. It wasn't till now that he felt as though that everything would work out and that it was worth it. That this was worth fighting for, it wasn't a lost cause.

His eyes opened as they both pulled away. Her eyes told him everything he needed to know about what she was going through in her head. As it settled in, his smiled slowly dropped into a frown.

"I'm sorry." He didn't even know why he felt the need to apologize.

"For what?" She confused him, forcing him to ask himself that question just to find an answer.

"I shouldn't have forced myself on you like that." Small amounts of shame invaded him as he looked away.

"You didn't force anything, I wanted you to do that too." Her smile erased that shame, refilling it with the relief from seconds earlier. She guided his gaze back to her, putting her lips back on his when he did. It was shorter than the first one but it felt just as right. "Just like how I know you wanted me to do that."

"You don't understand how lost I felt when I thought you left me." Even though he was happy to finally have her, sadness leaked over. It infected him like a plague, always finding the wrong moments to make itself known.

"I know." He moved in again but she gently pushed him away. "I want this, I do…"

"But?"

"...but I'm not ready for it. I don't think I'm ready to commit myself again." Part of him felt wronged, like she was stolen from him, but he knew better than to let that show. "If you asked me five months ago than I would've said yes nearly a hundred times, but him coming back like that? Bringing back my feelings with such ferocity, only to break them over and over again." A heavy sigh made him understand. "This one is the only wound that hasn't healed yet and I don't want to force it like this." The paw from his face fell to bring his own paw to her chest. "You have your scars and I have mine. Just know that when I'm ready, you'll be the first to know."

"And I'll wait until you are." She smiled then looked back into the fire. They didn't say anything for what he thought was hours, but he was content with just being with her. The fire's erratic dance made his thoughts move with it. Most of them were happy thoughts, contemplating what events laid ahead, but some of them dampened his mood.

It jumped onto what must be happening between Aurora and Frost. He hated not being there to help comfort her but he knew better than to interfere with what should be a family matter. _Frost is better equipped to help her than I ever will be, besides, I'm probably the last one she wants to see at the moment._

"You're thinking about Aurora aren't you?" Her break of the silence also broke him from his train of thought.

"Yeah, I'm worried." He was honest.

"What happened? You never told us." She leaned her head onto his shoulder.

"I didn't think it was appropriate for Marek and his sister to hear." Staring into the fire, he briefly tried to imagine why Marek burned his sister.

"Why don't you tell me now, get it off your chest."

"The guardians have been receiving reports of mysterious signs of fighting coming from the Broken Mountain…"

"The Broken Mountain?"

"That's what they're calling the mountain where we faced off against Malefor." She shuddered as he explained. "They asked me to investigate what's causing all the destruction and stop it before it reaches the city. That's where I found Felice and as it turns out, it was her and her brother who were fighting. After she put out a tree that he lite ablaze we flew back to the city. We got back and ran into Ardere, Aurora and her brother. A short reunion later it was decided that we would get their living arrangements dealt with. Also turns out that we're running out of living spaces and Aurora was force to choose between having the siblings move into Eclipse's or her room." A light gasp made its way to his ears. "She stormed out choosing to move into Eclipse's old room. I tried to stop her so that we could talk but she avoided me, even jumping over me just to get away."

"That's why Frost left so early, to help her."

"I didn't want her to be alone but I had a feeling that she didn't want to talk to me. He's probably the better choose anyway."

"I can agree." She lifted her head up to look at him. "She's been getting more and more aggressive around me and Nathora, I hope that this can fix that."

"Have you noticed her bursts of magic? Where she sends a pulse of wind out from her?" He remembered what she did in the Guardian's map room.

"Noticed them? I've experienced them, knocked Nathora off her feet." She told him, gesturing with her paws.

"Really?" He thought that Nathora would be strong enough to hold herself against the pulses, it shocked him to hear otherwise.

"We were walking around the gardens when the topic of Nathora's brother and his time with Eclipse came up. One thing lead to another and Nathora was apologizing for not being there to help us. Next thing I knew, Nathora was in the pond and I was digging into the stones in the path." She told her first time being subject to the outbursts. It felt like a puzzle piece tried to fit inside his head but it refused to click together.

"She did the same thing in the temple today, sent scrolls and nearly dragons alike around the room."

"Aurora must finally be strong enough to develop advanced forms of her element." Her smile returned.

"That's not the point to focus on." He mentally winced as her smile disappeared.

"Right…" She trailed off into the fire. "We need to keep a closer eye on her."

"What if we invite her to watch us work at the Academy, it keeps her in eye sight of everyone and who knows, maybe she'll want to join us."

"It's better than nothing but I think that she's not getting enough sleep. Her scales have gotten duller in the past few months." He nodded with her, he's noticed the same thing happening.

"Do you think she's having the same nightmares you are?" She paused at his question.

"Maybe? I would think so since the two of them were closer than me and him." The puzzle piece lodged itself into place, connecting everything in his mind.

"It must've had a more profound effect." He whispered to himself.

"I would assume so." She still managed to hear him.

"I should-"

"No, leave it for tomorrow. She needs tonight to adjust and we need tonight to rest. It's been a long day, lets get some sleep and you can do whatever you need to do after classes tomorrow." She grabbed him with her tail before he could make it to the door.

"Whatever you say." He sighed and her tail curled back inwards.

She laid on her side with her stomach to the fire, the red scales basking in the orange light. He joined her, spreading his free wing over her exposed side and gently pulling her in. She sighed as his purple form enveloped her and she faded to sleep within moments. Closing his eyes, he attempted to join her to expedite the night but he remained conscious. It wasn't till the fire died off did he decide to accept that it was going to be a sleepless night. Yet as he opened his eyes he realized something.

He wasn't in Warfang.


	6. Chapter 5

Trees blocked his every direction except upwards. The stars sprinkled sky still struggled to light the underworld of the forest. Sounds of insects and midnight animals echoed around him, their sources remaining hidden in the brush. The lack of light and thick company of flora blocked his ability to see further into the forest.

He walked the edge of the same clearing, looking for any signs of what brought him out here. The darkness persisted under his inquisitive glare, refusing to let him see past it's predetermined barrier. Giving up on peering deeper into the forest, he turned to the natural sky light, but something compelled him to stay grounded. His wings wouldn't even open for him when he told them to.

The sounds of the night stopped mid lullaby, giving way to utter silence. Stopping in the center of his clearing, Spyro frantically looked around, searching for what could've caused nature to silence itself. Soft whispers made it to his ears before long, barely below hearing what it was saying.

Something reflecting light made his head swivel. The last flicker of movement barely registering in his eyes before it disappeared into the brush. Using his wings as a boost, he practically shoved himself forward and crashed through the bushes. The same reflective movement caught his attention as he regained his bearings. He chased after the fleeting hint of someone else, tearing his way through brush as he went.

"Wait! Please!" He yelled after the figure that continued to disappear but they didn't turn to respond. Tripping over a root, he went tumbling forwards with a tree forcibly stopping him shortly after. Looking up he managed to see the cracked peak of what could only be the Broken Mountain. "What?"

Quickly scrambling up, he refocused on whoever was leading him towards the mountain. Further pleas were continually ignored and the figure kept their pace ahead of him. Their pace was slowly dwindling however, Spyro able to now hear the fluttering of their cloak. His eyes still betrayed him, barely able to make out any real distinctive features.

"Stop!" He reached forward, taking hold of the end of the figures cloak before losing his footing yet again. The tearing of cloth replaced his stumbling as he fell to the ground.

Trees had given way to grass and the absence of leaves allowed the moons to shine their light on the ground. As the air flowed into his lungs to replace that which he lost, he slowly got to his feet. His talons still latched onto the cloak that tore free from the figure.

The only noticeable feature the black cloak had was the white diamonds that were painted along the edges. A metal clasp brought his eyes away from the cloth, shining in the moonlight. The clasp seemed to be made of silver by the color, and it was shaped into a symbol that he's only seen once before. From the clasp he angled his vision to the now halted figure, it didn't take long for him to know who it was.

Mismatched silver and red eyes greeted him as he stared, while black scales marked the distinct outline of a dragon. The same symbol from the clasp laid square on the dragon's shoulder, proudly showing off what his past was filled of. A scar interrupted the usually smooth silver scales that ran down the dragon's chest.

"Eclipse?" Disbelief conquered his words as the exchanged looks.

"It's good to see you again Spyro." The cloak flew back around his neck, the clasp attaching itself to the cloth.

"How are you-"

"Alive?" The ghost laughed before offering his paw. "Simple answer: I'm not." The ghost lifted him to his feet before turning away from him.

"What's the complicated answer?" Spyro followed him through the forest, their pace now looking like a walk rather than a chase.

"I'm still trying to figure that out myself, but from what I can gather, I'm somewhere between." His explanation left more questions than answers. "I'm afraid neither of us fully understand my situation."

"That I can agree…"

"But you're still confused on why I'm here, in what should be your dream." His tone turned more inquisitive than knowing.

"Yes."

"Good, shows that you're still mentally intact." More questions came as he spoke, sending his mind in a subtle frenzy trying to answer them.

"What do you mean?" His question seemed to dampen his mood.

"I'm sure after my death, our friend group grieved." He nodded in response. "Assuming that you did, my death didn't affect you as much as some of the others. I know that Cynder and Aurora have nightmares, while Frost and Ardere are in a strange stage of denial."

"Denial?"

"I'm not quite sure how to explain it but that's besides the point. Cynder denies that it's the real me talking and not just a memory, while Aurora is fragile at best." He saddened for a moment before reversing itself. "I needed to warn you and tell you about what's happening."

"Warned about what?"

"My physical body wasn't destroyed after you closed the tunnels. The spirit plane is stirring in large ways and I fear that me not passing has something to do with it." They exited at the base of the mountain, the imposing mound of rock that was responsible for so much grief.

"Can't you tell someone that can do something? Like the Guardians?" Eclipse laughed at him.

"The Guardians? They wouldn't believe me, they're more worried about eliminating the cult instead of understanding it." He sighed before continuing. "Even if they would, they barely sleep and I didn't know them that well to get into their minds."

Something rose throughout him, filling him with the sense that he could do right by his fallen friend. "So what can I do?"

"You're going to come back here and-" He paused suddenly. Following his gaze to what could be freezing him, he understood as soon as his eyes landed on it.

The boulder that he used to plug the caves was shattered into what seemed like a million pieces. The floor of the tunnels was coated in black rock that looked like fresh obsidian but it had a large chunk carved out, yet he was certain neither was the reason for him stopping. The shattered bits of the boulder weren't normal bits of rocks. In their place, rubies and sapphires of various shapes and sizes littered the ground.

"I should've figured." It was barely above a whisper, he almost had to ask him to repeat what he said. Black smoke poured out of the tunnels, advancing upon them with the speed of a angry tidal wave. "Took him long enough."

"Took who long enough?" His question fell on deaf ears as his companion took steps ahead of him. The black smoke curled around him as if there was a rock blocking it's path.

"You need to wake up now, if he sees us together than you'll be in more danger than you already are." His tone sped up, he thought he even made out a small amount of fear. A cracking sound came from the tunnels and black pebbles shot out of the opening.

"Can't you just leave?"

"That's not how this works, you either need to wake up or hide." Low growling sounded from the tunnels as they spoke, turning Eclipse more frantic as a result. "Run, now!" The obsidian burst forward, shattering true to its name. There wasn't any time to speak further, as he dove into the thickest of the smoke. The light from magma outlined both Eclipse and a freakishly large dragon. Sounds of a struggle replaced the growling as the two fought but he quickly left before any clear victor can make themselves known.

He weaved in and out of the trees, both with haste and caution to not trip again. As the sounds of battle faded, he had hoped that it was because of distance instead of an end. Slamming himself into passing trees, trying to wake up before something else can happen. There was no pain but he didn't care, he was getting desperate.

His ears picked up on something large breaking through the brush. The fear heightened in his body and he stopped throwing himself into the trees. He focused trying to outrun whatever kept pace behind him, bouncing off of anything in his way. Something heavy wrapped itself around his ankle, pulling him to the ground.

"Get up!" Eclipse's voice rang through the air, reverberating through his skull.

"Wake up!" His entire body jolted upward with his head colliding with an object above. Dropping to the ground, he didn't know whether to groan from pain or be relieved that he was awake. "Ancestors, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay." He groaned while rubbing the top of his head. Never had he thought that he would be this happy to see Warfang again. "What happened?"

"You started to mumble in your sleep, something about Eclipse." She wore her concern on her face, her green searchlights peering over him.

"I'm sorry if-"

"Then you started twitching, pretty violently towards the end." Leaning down, she showed him what happened to her. Three gashes marked up her back, even light traces of dried blood ran to her side. "That's when you woke me, but I shouldn't be surprised, I did my fair share of damage to you."

"I still shouldn't have hurt you." He apologized, making his way to the shelf where they kept a few medical supplies. She stopped his paw as he reached for a red crystal, guiding it away and back to the floor. He looked back up to her, finding an almost amused expression on her face.

"It was an accident and we both know that I've had worse."

"That doesn't change the fact that it needs to be treated." He reached for the crystal at on, this time uninterrupted. Just as he was going to crush it, her paw clamped itself over his and stopped him.

"I already treated it with normal medicine, I've even washed it earlier this morning. Using the crystal would prove to only be a waste." She slipped the crystal from his paw and walked it back to its place on the shelf. As he turned to look at her, he saw that she was staring at a broken black helmet with dimly lit runes. "I didn't know I could be that oblivious."

"I found it in an alleyway a few nights ago, it was actually being used as a garbage bucket." He rubbed the back of his head as she grabbed it off the shelf. She sat back and held it out in front of her, the fire light being reflected off the metal. The white runes started to glow more vibrantly as she held it, the unnatural glow overcame the fire and quickly became the strongest light in the room.

"What's happening?" He tried to peer closer but the light and it's burning sensation caused him to shield his eyes. A piercing screech came from the source of light, making him backpedal into the wall. The helmet continued it's assault with both the light and sound increasing brightness and volume respectively. A million thoughts rushed his head in a time shorter than milliseconds, all of which urged him to push forward instead of backwards.

He pushed off the wall, using a back leg to propel himself forward. Switching his paw with his wings, he reached blindly forward in an attempt to find something to grab. Cool scales met his paw and he used his weight to push her down. Even as his senses slowly came back, he could still hear the clattering of metal hitting the ground. Both the light and sound died as it rolled on the floor, the runes losing all their white glow.

Cautiously opening his eyes he stared down at the dragoness, finding her green eyes fluttering open at the same time. His face betrayed him as he felt himself start to smile, even feeling a laugh threatening to spill out. Without his consent, his body reached forward and planted himself on her lips. It was shortly lived when he felt her kick his stomach and sent him off her. Looking up from where he landed, it became apparent why she pushed him off.

"What are you doing here?" Cynder beat him to the question, helping him get to his feet. Felice joined them off the ground, offering them an apologetic smile as she did so.

"I saw the bright light and wanted to know what was happening. I didn't want to just fly by and learn that someone was hurt later." She explained while looking to the balcony. A heavy set of feet landing turned his head where he saw Marek staring into their home.

"Well, thanks for checking at least but we're fine." Cynder moved next to the sister, putting a wing on her back and using it to guide her out. "Some of these enchantments don't like being casted wrong." He watched as Marek's attention dropped the black helmet on the floor. Spyro scooped it up with his tail and tossed it out of view, not without it making a heavy thud however.

"As long as you two are okay, we don't want our first real day be ruined because you got hurt." Felice gave another sheepish grin as she was lead out. "It would be awkward."

"It wouldn't be the first time it happened." He could tell she regretted those words as soon as the siblings heard them.

"What do you mean?" Marek asked, still keeping his attention on Spyro.

"I'll have to tell you that story at breakfast," She looked over her shoulder at him for a brief moment. "we need to take off those runes before it actually hurts someone." She offered them a wide smile, they returned it with confused looks.

"Maybe I can help, I know my fair share of enchantment magic." Felice looked past her and around what part of the room she could see. Her brother put a paw on her shoulder and motioned off the balcony as her attention went to him.

"Let's grab that breakfast, I'm sure two of the most powerful dragons can handle a few odd runes." His orange gaze landed back on Spyro as Felice slowly turned away. "Besides, you said you were starving and now so am I."

"Fine, just as long as you two tell me that story." The siblings left seconds late, albeit with a little hesitation on the sister's part. The two of them watched them until they were out of sight, then quickly retreated back inside. Spyro went over to where the helmet landed, picking it up and bringing it to their sleeping space.

The runes had completely stopped emitting light, with the only evidence of their existence being their actual carving into the metal. His talon slowly traced the old letters, helping his mind try to understand what was written. He tried to desperately remember the lessons he was given by Terrador about runic writing, but they didn't help.

"You won't be able to translate it, our understanding of runic languages is heavily diluted. I bet you those runes are so old that we wouldn't be able to find books or scrolls on them." She grabbed the helmet from him, and just as before, it started to glow. He took it away from her as quickly as possible, looking at the lit carvings before it died out again.

"It's like it knows you, it seems to only react when you touch it." He was amazed as he ran his talon through the carvings again, finding nothing but empty space. "How could he-"

"You forget that he was alive during this time? This was his language much like how we write in ours." She explained while staring at the helmet. "It seems like the history teacher is forgetting some important facts on history."

"It just amazes me that just when I thought I knew him, more of his secrets seem to want answers." He explained putting the helmet back on the shelf. The black metal rested nicely on the wooden platform, reflecting the sunlight from a nearby window.

Most of Eclipse's armor pieces were either lost somewhere between Warfang and the Broken Mountain, or was damaged beyond recognizable repair. Whatever pieces did survive went to Aurora, where she supposedly was reassembling the armor the best she could. Everytime Cynder or Frost would visit her, they would say they saw more and more of it being completed.

The helmet was different, at least for him. All the other pieces had been found in the weeks following the battle but the helmet wasn't. Instead, he found it outside a ruined building, with random bits of junk and cloth in it. When no one answered his calls to ask about the helmet, he simply dumped the contents and took it.

"I saw him, I saw Eclipse." She sat down by the now cold fireplace, her paws on top of each other. "I don't know what you saw but he-" He moved in front of her, silently begging her to raise her head to look at him. "He's down there Spyro. He's alone, hurt and-"

"How could he have survived? He's been down there for months without any food or water." His skeptic mind launched itself at what she was saying. No one can survive that long without food or water. All that aside how could he have survived the lava or having no air? "You're saying that he's survived for five months, without any of the basic necessities? Do you realize how crazy that sounds? I want him to be alive, I do, but you cannot convince me that he survived that long in the tunnels. Not only that but how is it possible for him to send you a message through a helmet?"

"You don't under-"

"What don't I understand?" He put his rising anger away, his rational self was getting frustrated. He's dead, he has to be. Without food, water or even air? He would've died within the first few hours of being sealed inside. "I'm sorry Cynder. Believe me that if I could, I would fly out there and bring him back but… but…" His train of thought derailed as his mouth ran ahead of his head.

"But you can't." Her desperate tone shifted, taking a more defeated sound. "I let my hopes get up, my mind must've been playing tricks on me or something of the sort."

He sighed, looking back at her when he felt the awkward silence freeze over. A small part of him wanted him to be wrong, that he really was down there, surviving against all odds. He even saw a fantasy where that came true and they could all enjoy the peace together. The more he thought about it the harder it was to push it out but when he finally did, he felt horrible.

"We need to get going, the others will be waiting for us." She tried to hide the fact that she wiped away a tear but he knew what she did. In the split moment after, all he wanted to do was wrapped himself around her and fight away the memories that was going through her. In the other half of that moment, she wanted her to do the same for him. "Besides we should try to make this a good day, our first lessons with the siblings are today."

"Our?" He asked as they walked out onto the balcony. The sounds of a waking city greeted his ears as they peered over Warfang.

Cheerful greetings spread between the survivors of war and playful games were already being played by the younger ones. Groups of people traveled together through the streets, carrying their conversations with them. Early merchants were already boasting about their merchandise or arguing amongst each other about who has the better prices.

A cold wisp in the air made the dragoness shiver next to him, sending tiny vibrations through his body. He sled a wing over her back and pulled her close, sharing his body heat of a fire dragon with her. She nuzzled closer to him, murmuring a soft "Thanks." while soaking up all the heat she could. The passing of the seasons was nearly upon the city, some of the scouting parties even spoke of snow not far from the walls.

Winter was his least favorite part of the year, mostly because of the drop in temperatures but also the waning sunlight. He dreaded the night and the fact that winter brung more of it made him wish that he could just replace the season with more summer.

Soon he would need to find a place to host classes indoors, it would be cruel to have the students sit outside in the cold or in a snowstorm. He would also need to either find a winter replacement for the smithing course or cancel it all together during the season. Nathora would also need to be briefed on keeping her students safe during trips beyond the city. So many problems but little honest time to dedicate to them.

"I thought about it, and I'll take them on during my off time." Relief splashed over various parts of his body but splotches of anxiety provided conflict.

While he had no worries about Felice, he couldn't stop thinking about teaching Marek. He was a fire dragon and from what he's gathered, has a quicker temper than most. Most of the other fire dragons he's taught was always on the younger side, when they haven't quite taken on the trait. The last time he's taught one as old as Marek was Ardere and he's done a good job with him, the persistent feeling that it won't end the same held firm.

"Good, gives you something else to do other than steal my body heat." They laughed together.

"You're the one that offered." She argued, still laughing.

"Fair enough." He rubbed her shoulder with his wing, smiling at her. "Ready?"

"Let's go." She slid out from under his wing and jumped off the balcony. He watched the wind catch her wings, guiding her away from him. With one last look to check that the door was closed, he followed behind her.

As they entered the Great Hall, the smell of freshly fired food wafted into their noses. The commotion of tables filled with residents nearly filled the ears to the brim with noise. Dragons, Cheetahs and Moles alike, walked between the tables, some carrying plates while others carried entire carcesses.

She disappeared from his side, walking in the direction of where they normally sit in the morning. He smiled as he saw their friends already shouting over to her and attempting to make conversation halfway across the room. With the smile holding, he went over to the large display of various food. Ranging from small rabbits to even a few pieces of mammoth, Warfang regained it's variety in food.

He looked over to their table as the food was being prepared, the smile only growing as he saw them all laughing. They continued to laugh as he sat down among them, looking along all the ones that were here. His mind forced his attention on the empty seat next to Aurora, usually occupied by Ardere. Stopping himself before bringing it up with Frost, he found that both his and Nathora's seats were also empty.

"Where's the other three?" He asked, peering down the center of the table.

"Ardere left a little before you two got here, said he wanted to have some extra time to prep." Flame answered still with an unusually bright expression. "Frost and Nathora have yet to arrive, I saw them heading to the carrier bird station."

"Scratch that, my brother just got here." Aurora pointed out, in between bites of a large piece of meat. A glimmer on the table brought him to see the silver ring on her talon, in the back of his mind he knew who it was from. Her face seemed to be less stressed, and her own eyes seemed to gleam brighter than yesterday.

"You look better." He turned the topic to her.

"I haven't slept that well in months, I feel much better." She answered him, a grin growing on her face. "I was thinking that I could watch you guys work at the academy again. I won't get in the way like last time."

"I don't have a problem with it, it's not your fault that you're so popular." He assured her.

"I would like to watch Cynder and her classes if that's okay with her." She peered over to the dragoness in question, stopping her mid bite. She awkward swallowed while looking at the both of them who patiently waited for a answer.

"Like what he said, it's not-"

"Actually, can we talk about it in private?" She interjected, turning everyone's heads including the recently seated Frost and Nathora. "I just want to talk to her about the classes." Her defense was quick but she got up and walked away before anyone could speak after. Cynder shot him a raised eyebrow before getting up to join her in the corner of the room. He watched them as they begun to talk, wondering what she could possible want to speak to her about.

"You know what that's about?" Frost stole his attention from the two.

"Not the slightest clue." They both glanced back at them but silently decided to let them have their conversation. "Who's it from?" He nodded towards the small scroll laid out in front of Nathora.

"It's from my brother, Norgon. He says he's on his way home." She didn't look up from the scroll, continuing to read the contents.

"Where did he go anyway?" Marek looked up from his plate.

"The White Isles." They locked eyes for a moment before she went back to reading. "He says he's learned a lot from the Chronicler himself."

"He actually made it to the Isles?" Spyro hadn't heard of anyone else finding the White Isles, he always thought that is was impossible to find without help.

"He also says that… the…" Her speech slowed down, and she looked to be rereading what was written.

"What? What does he say?" Cynder rejoined them, sitting besides him. Aurora sat back down across from him, peering over to read the letter with her. She looked like she wanted to say something but Frost's glare halted her.

"He says The White Isles are dying…" She trailed off, looking up to him with confused disbelief. "Is that possible?"

"What does he mean by dying?" He gestured for her to read on.

"He doesn't know either, he says that 'The Chronicler didn't answer when I asked him.'" She answered his next question without knowing, but it only spawned a bigger need for answers. From what he remembered of the White Isles, it wasn't the liveliest of places but what vegetation and animals were there, they were some of the healthiest he saw. His impression was that it was protected by the Chronicler's magic.

"I want to speak with Norgon, when is he coming back?" His mind swelled with various questions, and he determined that he could answer most of them. He also wanted to see what the Chronicler taught him, something he always wondered since he first learnt under him.

"He doesn't know when but he is coming back." She rolled the letter back up, slipping the binding back over it. "He also wanted to say that Ignitus wishes he was there to help you through the last battle."

"Oh." He hadn't really thought about Ignitus since everything happened with Eclipse and Malefor. Thinking about it made him realize that he's moved on from him, everyone else already did. "I'll be sure to be on the lookout for him but I'm sure he'll want to see you first." He got up from his seat, everyone else following suit.

"I'll want to see him as soon as possible, I didn't quite get the chance to yell at him enough when he first left." She laughed

"I can say from personal experience, that brothers are a bit dim witted." Aurora nudged her while sticking her tongue out at her own brother.

"Hey!" Frost started to laugh along with them.

"I think I can agree with that personal experience." Nathora looked over to Frost and they seemed to smile more than actually laugh. He turned to leave with Cynder, his lessons from today coming to mind. "Oh, Spyro." She called after him, making him turn back around. "I'll help out with the siblings if you want me to."

"You will?"

"I don't mind, I'm not exactly the busiest of dragons at the moment and most of my classes aren't really that structured anyway." She moved around the table to join them as they walked out.

"I'd like to teach them too, since it seems like everyone else is doing it." Frost spoke from behind them.

"Thanks, all that's left is to get Ardere to agree." Spyro looked over his shoulder and to the group. He saw the Cynder and Aurora were back to speak privately a few paces behind the rest of the. A mental note was made in his head to ask about what she was asking about later.

"You want me to talk to him?" Frost asked, moving up to be on the other side of him. "I could probably convince him."

"No, it's fine. I want him to make the decision on his own, it's not something he needs to do anyway." He shook his head.

"If you change your mind just let me know, I'm sure he'll agree to it either way." He reassured him before moving next to Nathora.

A cold breeze made several of them shiver as they exited the Great Hall. Even with the Sun on full blast, the temperature didn't seem to change from when they first got there. Frost and Nathora went off to speak with the Elder Guardians about the White Isles. They felt that it was necessary to inform them about it's situation and maybe find out what was happening. Flame and Ember took off towards the newly renovated hospital for Flame's daily check up, but she said they would drop by later to help where needed.

"Today's gonna be a busy day for us isn't it?" Cynder asked with a small smile hanging on her face.

"It'll be busy, but also a good day." He flew up into the air with everyone else in tow. The White Isles held a firm grip on the curiosity in him. Parts of him wanted to fly off and check on the Isles himself, the rest of him overruled that decision. It was made up in his mind that he would wait for Norgon to return and ask him everything he wanted answers for.


	7. Chapter 6

Whether she realized it or not, Cynder's method of teaching was almost identical to how Eclipse taught. She pushed them in every drill but still retained enough compassion to offer a gentle hand in understanding the exercise. The exercises themselves were also relatively simple, at least when compared to how all three of them used to perform. One movement done over and over again until she deemed they were all ready to move on.

She didn't favor anyone in any of her classes, no matter how much promise they showed or how kind they treated her. They were all equal in the class and for the most part, when one moved on, the others followed. Cynder managed to turn a band of five strangers into a well functioning family unit that always helped one another. She also managed to create a friendly but competitive spirit between all the flights.

For as good as a teacher as she was, there were always whispers of discontent among the students. Aurora couldn't really blame them, while effective, Cynder was using a teaching method that was made for pure warfare. Albeit with a few changes, its true purpose would show at times during the classes, mainly from the instructor herself. At times she would get agitated at the students that wouldn't grasp the concept or fail at something that she sees as basic. She even needed to step in at times to control the dragoness' outbursts of anger. These were only hiccups in the classes though and for the most part, she showed a long-standing patience for the students' mistakes.

Part of her wished that he was here to watch what his Academy had become, she knew that he wanted it to become something more than just a military camp. Through their combined efforts, she was glad to see the late dragon's dream slowly becoming a reality.

As she watched, she formally decided that it was time to stop spending so much time in her own thoughts, all alone. She decided that she needed to find who she was as a separate entity instead of just a part of him. Even though the thought of truly letting go was something that scared her, it was understood that it was something that needed to happen at some point. Holding on to what was, has been proven to only bring someone down the wrong path, such as Malefor and to an extent, Eclipse himself.

She knew why he did carry his past on his back and wanted to remember it. It forged him into the dragon that was far better than anyone thought someone like him could become. Back then, no one thought the great 'Father of Darkness' would make such a hefty sacrifice and have a strong drive to protect others.

She didn't know however, how it really was to serve under the likes of Gaul and Malefor. To be constantly surrounded by soldiers that either wanted to kill you or wanted to become like you. From the small bits that the two of them told her, she felt sorry for what they went through but there was a nagging feeling that they were hiding something from her.

He only told her the basic information with minor detail on how it was run before he took power. Gaul horribly mistreated both of them, everything ranging to verbal harassment to even Gual trying to force himself on Cynder. Even as they got older, with Cynder defecting and Eclipse splintering off, it only stopped once Gaul was dead. She wanted to know everything else though, specifically why the two of them never tried to leave.

It was evident that they could've defected beforehand, they weren't threatened with death. Eclipse had nearly killed Gaul when he made his unwanted advances on Cynder, but neither of them took it a step further. They both stayed with the Dark Army and it was only when the spell was permanently broken did they both leave.

There was only one time that he spoke of the spell allowing the two of them to not be as evil as they were perceived. He said that during that time, the full weight of their actions up to that point dropped on them. It was hard to believe that the two biggest fear factors of the war, both of them cried for hours because of what they did. He said that he had never seen her cry so hard for so long, she didn't think she could.

Looking at her now, surrounded by the students that did look up to her for guidance, a smile took to get face. She couldn't begin to imagine how much of a relief it must be to wake up as herself and not someone else. _If she can do it, so can I._

"Aurora?" She felt something touch her shoulder and she nearly shot into the air. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." Marek laughed as she composed herself. She looked around for Felice, curiosity striking her mind when she noticed that she was nowhere to be found.

"Don't worry about it, I was spacing out anyway." She laughed with him, even finding the courage to smile. "Where's your sister? I'm surprised that she wasn't here first."

"She's still fast asleep and waking her isn't the best of ideas." He sheepishly smiled.

"I hope she gets here soon then. Cynder doesn't like late arrivals and it seems like this class is already getting on her nerves." They both looked over, watching the dragoness in question screaming at one of the students. A quick glance from her to the other student told them to start limping over to them. A large gash on their shoulder was still bleeding when he made his way in front of her.

"Miss Aurora, c-could y-y-you he-help me?" His timid shyness made her smile, reminding her of herself.

"Of course." She sat him down and examined what the other student did. It wasn't deep of course, but he was lucky that the student realized what would happen at the last moment. He was fine in just a couple of moments, thankfully she started to carry around her own medical satchel otherwise he would've needed to wait. With a timid thanks, the young dragonet half walked, half ran back to the class, with a smaller limp than when he came to her.

"You should teach," Marek's warm smile filled her with an old feeling she hasn't felt in months. It caused her to return his smile with one of her own, even if her's was a mixture of slight embarrassment and anxiety. "I'm sure they would like to know how to treat themselves."

"I'm no teacher Marek, I wouldn't even know where to start." It would be a lie to say that it didn't cross her mind, teaching the students how to care for their own injuries. The more she thought about, the more she felt as though she wouldn't be able to give out the knowledge both easily and effectively. For now though, she didn't mind being the de facto academy nurse as they never have had a legitimate one.

"I find it hard to believe that the others were natural teachers, Cynder most of all." As if on cue, the dragoness in question stormed off while her students went back to the basics. "Point proven."

"Point taken, but-"

"No buts this time." He laughed as he shushed her by bringing his finger to her mouth. "The kids here want to hear about you, I don't need to be here long to see that. If you watch them closely, you can see them sneak glances towards you." Removing the finger from her mouth he brought it to the side of her head, directly over her temple, before lightly tapping it against her scales. "I know there's a few stories in there that can be told to help the information stick."

"Never took you for a teacher." She felt her smile grow slightly larger than it was.

"I'm not, I just know how it is to learn." Her eyes seemed to focus on his smile, only heightening the warmth that was spreading through her body. The sense that she's known him for years still stuck with her, that she knew both of them for longer than just barely a day.

"I'll think about it." He groaned at her, turning her smile into a giggle, which developed into full mutual laughter. Enjoyment wasn't something that was on her mind when she woke up, but it seemed to be finding her nonetheless, not that she minded its invasion into her day.

"Better than nothing I suppose." They both turn back to the class as the instructor rejoins them, seemingly already cooled off.

"What's better than nothing?" The previously missing sibling landed beside them, rapidly taking heavy breaths as she settled.

"Your brother may have convinced me to take on an apprentice." At his mention, his head swiveled to raise an eyebrow at her and show the excited curiosity infecting his eyes. She forced herself to stifle a laugh aimed at him but it couldn't be helped when the initial giggle escaped. "I'm still thinking about it though."

"I wouldn't mind learning a thing or two from you, if that helps you make a decision." The sister moved to her other side, putting her between the two siblings.

"I'm sure most of the students feel the same way, though I'm not sure if I would make a good teacher." Her insecurities had a tendency to plant themselves on her scales, though she was sure that many people already knew about her hesitation when it came to teaching.

"You would be, if your current popularity is any indication." His reference turned some heads of the other students, they're quick glances supporting Marek's statements.

"Keep in mind that this is before I've given any of them work to do or tests to study for." She swung her head around to look at him, a slight smile resting on her face.

"They won't care, they know it's something that can be necessary at some point in their lives." _They just met me, why are they acting as if we're friends?_

"Maybe so, but some of the herbs I use are dangerous if used incorrectly, potentially fatal. It doesn't exactly sit right with me putting those kinds of plants in the hands of these kids." It was always a concern of hers, if one of the students got it wrong and poisoned or even killed someone else, she would feel terrible about it. It's what kept her from teaching her brother and Ardere what she knew because she learned from someone older and vastly more experienced than she could ever be, not from someone younger like she was. Even then, the amount of patience required for learning everything made her question if short-tempered students like Marek could do it.

"What about flying, you've managed to outmaneuver the purple dragon and keep up with Cynder at full speed." The brother in question suggested.

"I would be flattered if he was actually a relatively good flyer, but he's honestly a little clumsy in the air. As for Cynder, that's mainly because we're both wind dragonesses and as such we can both reach the same speed." She reasoned to him.

"Then how come-"

"I swear to the ancestors if you ask, 'why are her scales black?', then I might actually slap you." Felice groaned while throwing her head up.

"Well I'm sorry for curiosity, mother taught us that scale color is dictated by your birth element." He defended himself against his sister's ridicule, quietly growling at her as he did so.

"What, did you think that both Cynder and Eclipse were born to unnatural elements? You do realize that would require both of them to be unnatural themselves right?" The notion that both of them are unnatural dragons was more widespread than just Marek, to her amazement, there are many among Warfang that believe that. It's a belief that the purple dragon was simply 'phase one' of the great ending of the world and that the resident black dragons are heralds to the true bringer of the end.

Aurora knew this was the basis in which the current cult was founded on, they worship them and their apparent Elder God who will bring an end to the world in favor of a new one. Spyro and Frost together have tried their best to stop her from learning about the organization but they can only do so much about their whispers. She was under the impression that her relationship with Eclipse has made her a bit of a target for the cult's efforts. It wasn't uncommon to find dragons staring at her while out to eat or while with her friends.

"Yeah, a little." He sheepishly admitted.

"Cynder was born a wind dragoness, however due to Malefor's corruption she not only gained the ability to use the unnatural elements, but also her scales changed color. She would look more like me if she was kidnapped, or a little more grey." A downside to the corruption is that there is no evidence of what either of them could've been before in terms of looks or even personality. She liked how they were, truly, but the thought that they're only like this because of the horrible effects of Malefor made her wonder what they could've been like if something had changed.

"What about Eclipse, was he supposed to be a purple dragon? He is technically the only known offspring of one." Both of them looked at her with raging curiosity, a small smile crept up on her as they both looked like small dragonets.

"To our best guesses he wasn't, multiple signs tell us that he was supposed to be a fire dragon. A good example would be his black fire and of course, his small temper that did get him in a little bit of trouble." It wasn't often that Eclipse lost his temper, but whenever he did, it seemed to be more attuned to others like Ardere. He never did lose his cool when concerning someone else, it was always something to do with his smithing or something inanimate. One of the things that she grew attached to and she somewhat missed watching him get frustrated, it often led to him taking a break to spend more time with her or their friends. "He actually could've looked a lot like you Marek."

"Really?" His curiosity quickly changed to a childish hope and joy, earning a stifled laugh from the two ladies.

"He never struck me as the one to look all bright and flashy, though it could just be how he was and not what he could've been."

"Eclipse was always 'down to earth', he never did anything for glory or renown, always something so I didn't have to." Cynder further confirmed as she approached them, slightly panting from all the exertion that came with teaching her class.

"You survived Ardere's flight I see." She laughed as the other dragoness sat down.

"Just barely, I don't know how the others do it." A half-smile came with her response.

"Oh Cynder, you promised to tell me that story about the first day incident." The sister quickly changed the subject, scooting closer to her as she did so.

"Oh, I did? Must've slipped my mind." Rubbing the back of her head, she offered a forced laugh.

"Yeah, you said you would tell me when we visited you and Spyro this morning, you couldn't have forgotten that quickly." Aurora raised an eyebrow at her as Felice pleaded to her.

"To be fair I was trying my best to make sure no one got hurt." She looked to her, with her own pleading look. "Thank you for helping the kid Aurora, shows you how a mistake might get someone seriously hurt."

"You don't need to worry about it, it was the least I could do for you." She offered no help to her, amused at the situations she's gotten herself into. "So what's this story you were going to regalel to them?"

"Why do you do this to me?" She whispered to her under her breath. "So, where should I start?" A forced laugh and slight movements away from the younger gawking dragoness started the storytelling. "Well, a few months after me and Spyro defeated Malefor the first time, I was sitting up on the western wall when I saw a small group of young dragons up on one of the hills." She kept glancing to Aurora, her uncomfortability silently being communicated. "I watched them as they approached the city gates and at first I wondered 'where are their parents?' As they got closer I realized something about one of the dragons, he seemed familiar. So I looked at him more closely, it dawned on me that this was the same dragon I had constantly been thinking about but I didn't know his name. You see, I could remember every memory I had with Eclipse, but for some reason I couldn't remember his name. I was both anxious and excited so I flew down as fast as I could, and not really thinking, I tackled him. As we rolled around, he ended up slicing my leg with his tail blade and flinging me off of him." She made a gesture with the leg in question, but there was no sign of the injury in question. "A limp to the hospital and a red crystal later, and I was fine."

"Did he ever do something like that again? Surely, he must've during training or friendly sparring right?" Marek seemed to grow more interested than he was when she was telling the actual story.

"No, he didn't, I learned my lesson to not startle him and he kept his claws in check whenever we spar each other. Though I'm sure I might've nicked him a few times here and there, he was always better at controlling himself than I was." Aurora caught her bluff quickly, she was there when he did hurt her again. _She's lying to them, why?_ She caught her quick glances and like her discomfort, she told her why. _He is more interested in Eclipse than the actual story, more so than the other students are._

"I should've expected as much, our mother spoke the world over about him." Marek settled back onto his haunches, a light sigh jumped off his mouth as he did so.

"That's true, she always seemed to have a story about him being different from everyone else in the army." Felice too, settled back down, a little more casually than she expected when telling them this.

"How did your mother know him?" She jumped on the opportunity to ask about them, hoping that clarity about their past would begin general clarity to them.

"Hmm… She never said how she did, we always thought they were good friends before he enlisted." _Enlisted? What are they even talking about? He was kidnapped along with Cynder and torture? He was a monster, not a hero._ She met the dragoness' eyes again, they both silently agreed to look into it further with mutual confusion passing between them.

"Well then." Cynder exclaimed, standing up and stretching out her limbs with loud popping sounds and pleasant sighs. "Why don't the two of you show me what you can do, I need a benchmark for your skill and knowledge. Rather do this than teach you something you already know." She motioned them to one of the sparring circles that still had most of the actual circle drawn in, albeit with a few missing chunks here and there. "There is no flying. Whoever leaves the circle first or yields first loses." Another brief glance was shot at her before she continued with the siblings. "Begin."

Felice was the first to react, instantly shielding herself with a thick wall of bright blue ice. As the wall completed itself, Marek's head collided into its front, sending cracks along the entire barricade and frozen chips flying to the ground. His entire body recoiled, practically bouncing off of the wall and throwing itself onto the ground. He recovered quickly however, using the backwards momentum to expedite getting off the ground.

She bounded around the wall, spinning around with her tail outstretched and smacked the side of his head with the blunt side of her icy blade. As the force of the hit spun him around, he used the momentum to hit her with his own blade. She was sent tumbling away from him, as it was made obvious which sibling held more raw strength. Marek leapt up, spun head over tail with flames turning his spine into a ring of fire, and fell down towards his sister.

Aurora was about to intervene, her mind told her that such a strike would kill Felice but as she stepped forward, Cynder shook her head. _She knows when to stop them, I can trust her judgement._ The memory of her kissing Eclipse briefly flashed in her head in painful detail, but she also knew better than to act on the emotions it spawned. _This is not the place for that kind of argument._ She reluctantly sat back down on the other side of the fighting ring.

Felice rolled out of her brother's way at the very last second, his mark only resulting in scorched stones and a slight collapse of his legs. He didn't stop his fire charged warpath however, slashing his tail around to release the ring of fire into a half-circle racing towards her. The sound of the flames made its way to all three of their ears and as a result, Felice barely had time to do a vertical barrel roll over it. As the wave passed under her, an icicle shot out of her form towards her brother. As he completed his spin, his eyes landed on the rapidly approaching chunk of ice and as a response, he melted it in a burst of black fire from his mouth.

Both Aurora and Cynder took a step back with a loud gasp. _How did he-_ She noticed that Marek had begun to glow like he had in the Guardian's Temple, his entire form was coated in a faint light red. _Who is he?_

The plume turned into a ball, keeping its black hue, trading places with the ice shard that his sister released moments before. She had little time to react but before she landed, she used her spinning to build a thin wall of ice in the fireball's path. Yet instead of the blue ice as before, the wall instead came out in a jet black that mirrored the flame. As she steadied herself from the spin, Felice too began to have a faint light blue hue over her body. Black fire collided into the wall and while the dark ice melted, so did the fire. Marek rushed through the burst of steam that resulted from the collision, grabbing his sister as he did.

Both siblings went into a short tumble, but it was Felice who kicked her brother off of her. As he did, his tailblade sliced along her side, drawing blood before it completely left her scales. Her quick cry of pain matched with Marek groan as he landed with a large thud. She laid on the ground, looking and covering the injury with her paw.

Aurora ran to her side, and as she crouched down she saw that the blade had cut into the scorched flesh from their previous encounter. She reached into her satchel, withdrawing a bottle of pink fluid and a roll of bandages. Turning her attention back to the sister, she found that she had gotten up and was marching over to her brother.

"I thought we agreed to no cheap shots." She was angry and she certainly wasn't trying to hide the fact. "Rule number one remember? 'DO NOT EXPLOIT YOUR SIBLING'S INJURIES OR WEAKNESSES'."

"You do realize I can hear you without the shouting right?" He groaned as he got to his feet, shaking his head as he did so. "It's not like you didn't break that rule either, we both know that my skull is already fractured." He pointed to the side that she hit with her tail blade which was indeed beginning to bleed.

"I didn't deliberately draw blood did I? No, I hit with the blunt side which you said yourself, that it was fine if I did so." She shoved him backwards, their glow mixing for a moment, producing a purple color.

"Didn't you ever think that I said that WHILE I WAS DRUGGED?" He returned the shove.

"You were of perfect mind when you told me, mother didn't even give you that much." She argued with her glow becoming more distinct.

"OH, so you're suddenly such a master herbalist? You magically know how much medication it takes to put someone under that stage of influ-"

"Both of you shut it!" Aurora used her wings to put distance between the two of them. "It was an accident, I'm sure neither of you-"

"There are no accidents on the battlefield." Felice turned away. "Just clumsy idiots."

"Clumsy idiot? I'm sorry but I don't see an ancestors' damn mirror around here." Marek shot back, pushing her wing to the side. "You're the one that tried to give me brain damage."

"I tried? SERIOUSLY?" She whirled around and smacked him across the face. "Don't talk to me." She flew off before he could respond.

"FINE, go find your own place to sleep then!" He shouted after her before flying in the opposite direction.

Aurora watched as Marek disappeared past the tops of the buildings, his now bright glow trailing behind him. Her mind was in a state of frenzy, she didn't understand anything that happened let alone know how to act on it. Even as she looked to Cynder for some sort of help, she only found her with her mouth slightly ajar and staring at the direction he took off in.

She saw that others around the Academy were staring at them, both students and their friends alike, some of them wearing the same expression as them. Eyeing both Spyro and Ardere, they both ushered their respective classes back to their lessons. Though her gut told her that they were going to ask questions, especially Ardere and her brother. She mentally turned to Eclipse, wondering what he would or could've done to either fix or avoid this situation. Though none of his supposed answers honestly satisfied her to which she opted to pull Cynder out of the limelight of the others. Pulling her out of sight of the Academy, she looked at her while she seemed to be deep in thought.

"Please tell me you understood any of the things that just happened because I have yet to." She asked with the information in question more bouncing off her brain instead of absorbing into it.

"I'm trying but I can't. How did Marek turn his fire black? How did Felice turn her ice black? I didn't even know a dragon could produce black ice. Not only that, but did you see how they moved, it's like they were trained in a military, not in some backwater homestead." Even as she listed off everything that was triggering her mind, it still didn't make any more sense than when she thought it in the first place.

"I don't know, my understanding is that that's only possible if-"

"No, they couldn't have been. We've both looked at them, they have normal scale colors not black." Cynder's fast defense defied her normally calm demeanor, while also blatantly communicating her confusion.

"Do they though? They have some of the darkest scales I've seen since you and Eclipse, it's a possibility you can't just ignore." She wanted to ignore the possibility herself, she wanted to believe that Cynder is the last of her kind, but facts were beginning to point at the fact that she isn't.

"Then how come I don't remember them? Or how come he never mentioned them to us?" Her panic was becoming more apparent.

"How am I supposed to know, we both know that he wasn't exactly open about that part of his life and neither are you. You couldn't even remember his name let alone Armavir and any other dark dragons." She half-heartedly meant it as an insult but bigger issues deflected it's deeper meaning off of it.

"We need answers. If we don't pursue this now then we might not get another chance to, I'll go talk with Marek." She spread her wings before looking to the sky.

"Shouldn't I talk to Marek? He'll probably trust me more than he'll trust you." She reasoned before she could take off.

"You're right, besides you barely know Felice." She sighed while retracting her wings a bit. "I'll go look for her, just don't do anything stupid with Marek. He seems to have a hotter head than Ardere." A flash of a smile later and she was winging off in the direction the sister flew away in.

Even with her mind jumbled, it was clear that she was nervous to talk to Marek. To her, he was as big of an unknown as Eclipse when she first met him, and it would be a lie for her to say that she wasn't afraid. Though at the same time, the thought of learning more about him relieved her, even filled her with a little joy.

She understood Cynder's warnings about him having a fire dragon's temper, though a strange feeling denied that he had the capacity to hurt her in a blind rage. It took both that confidence and the small amount of joy to get her airborne, but once she was, she found little difficulty in staying that way.

He was harder to find than she thought he would be, half expecting to still find him glowing like a magic orb. She looked everywhere her initial thoughts told her that he could be but it eventually got to the point where she was searching the entire city. She even ran into both Cynder and Felice but neither of them had found them, she did however, deny their help in finding him. In her mind she understood that if he wanted to see anyone right now, he wouldn't want to see either of them.

When she did find him, the sun was on it's trip towards the horizon and his glow had since worn off from his fight. His entire body seemed to be struck with a mixture of grief, anger and his own confusion. He was pacing the ramparts of the western wall, talking to himself about what he did. As she landed he dropped himself onto his haunches and looked out over the rolling grass fields.

Memories struck her when she recognized them and the way the wind pushed the grass over. This is also where she went to think alone, whenever she did go outside on her own. She remembered her wrestling match with her own brother, seeing Eclipse laugh for the first time in weeks, meeting both Cynder and Spyro. Several emotions hit her like a brick wall, though she knew it would be selfish to focus on her and not the clearly distressed dragon before her.

She sat down next to him, letting the wind curve around her and caress her with a light breeze. The nip of the cold air sent a shiver down her spine but it helped her relax the nerves twisting and turning her stomach. _He must know that I'm sitting right here, so why hasn't he said anything?_

Being the first one to talk in this situation felt wrong to her, that it wasn't her place to do so. Comparing it to Eclipse's breakdowns was wrong as well but she couldn't help but do it, though it only confused her more. It wasn't clear why she was able to feel comfortable starting those conversations but couldn't do the same in the present.

So they both sat there in utter silence, letting the wind grace them with its touch. Watching as it pushed the grass down and made green waves across the ground like the ocean on a beach. As the sun disappeared behind the treeline, dragging with it both the light and the blue sky, the winds cold slowly increased. She was beginning to get cold and the shivers lasted longer than when she arrived, but she was compelled to sit here as long as he was.

"Why are you still here?" He finally broke the silence with a simple question, though it took her a moment to find an answer.

"Because you are." Her answer seemed to satisfy him but he didn't continue to speak. Instead he kept his eyes closed and seemed to listen to the world around him, letting the sounds penetrate his ears and register in his mind.

An infinite amount of questions swirled in her mind as she stared at him, though the questions found answers in the dark corners of her head. More memories filled in the gaps the answered questions left behind, presenting her with a movie of everything that happened. Even though she lived all the moments shown to her, it felt like she was seeing everything for the first time. Then the pain that one of the dragons was dead dropped on her, silent tears slid down her face and to the stones below her chin.

They made her feel even colder than she was, with the winds taking a liking to touch her wet cheeks with their cold grasps. Her shivers became more apparent, and her breaths were heavier than before. Silently, she wrapped herself in her own wings, in an attempt to shield her body to the chill.

"You're cold, you should go inside." Looking at him, she found that he was now looking down at her with a blank expression. His orange eyes were empty of any real emotion, though the longer she looked, the more she found anxiety building in them.

"I'm not going to leave until you do." A shiver slightly interrupted her words even with her attempt to make it seem like she wasn't affected. The feeling of his wing sliding across her back made her shiver and the force of him pulling her into him made her gasp. Even though the intense she felt on the side of his body, she could still feel a heavy blush rise to her face. She looked away from him when their scales met, the sudden awkwardness of the situation reaching her. "Thank you." She meant to say it louder, but it only came out as a whisper.

"You should go inside with your friends, I'll be fine." He let out a large sigh, presumingly looking back at the now dark field. "I'll be fine."

"Saying it twice doesn't make it the truth, I can tell you're hurting." She managed to look back up at him, the blush disappearing under his warmth.

"I'M-" His head shot back down but he stopped himself when he saw her again, cutting himself off with a sigh. "I'm not hurting, I just need to think."

"I've been around fire dragons nearly my entire life, I know what they think about when they just need to think." He attempted to look away but she forced him to look at her with her paw. "You're angry at yourself, for losing your temper. You're especially mad at yourself because of what you did to Felice." His entire body tensed up as she outlined why he was there. "It's nothing to be ashamed about."

"It's not just that, it's just-" The words seemed to die somewhere in his mouth as he managed to look away. "This place, this city…" He trailed off, letting the wind pass over them again. "I've only just arrived yet I feel like I've been here before. Like this spot seems familiar to me but I've never been here besides today. It relaxes me even though I don't know it."

"This is where I came to think by myself since he died, this is where we first arrived and met both Cynder and Spyro." She explained her own connection to the place in question, it shocked her when she felt relieved when saying it.

"I don't like to run off and hide like this, but when I saw the way Felice looked at me, the way I thought you would look at me for hurting my sister. I couldn't take it and I just needed to clear my head." His own explanation both confused her and made sense. _Why does he care what I think? Why am I just as important as his own sister?_

"Mar-"

"Our mother always taught us to respect each other above all. That no matter what happened, or what we did, we would always have each other. That we needed to always have each other's back when times were hard. How can I remember those lessons but continually hurt her and leave her when she needs me?" She could hear the emotions leaking into his own voice, but he hid any physical signs of it.

"Everyone makes mistakes Marek, even the best of us. None of us aren't without regrets and some of us are forced to wear those mistakes for all to see." She thought of not only her own appearance and how it's gone downhill but also Spyro's large scar on his side. Deep in her mind the image of the monster that gave him the scar haunted her. "You'll make mistakes again, you'll end up breaking that rule again and again but it's important to not let it affect you like this."

"Felice has been in my entire life, but no matter how many times I tell myself that 'She's my twin, we're going to fight' I can't help but feel horrible for having it happen. Complete polar opposites but we came into this world together, it doesn't make sense to me." More grief entered his words.

"Frost and Ardere fight all the time but they've supported each other through the darkest events this city and our kind have ever seen. I've seen them get into such big arguments but no matter how bad it is, they always make up in the end. Then the next day they could be trying to prank someone or enjoying life together." Before Eclipse arrived at their village, the two of them were the ideal image of a platonic relationship. They could have the nastiest of fights one day, but the very next day they could be laughing with each other.

"I don't even know why I'm telling you any of this to be quite honest. You're a sweet girl, I mean that truly but I've just met you yesterday. That said, it feels like I've known you for years and something is telling me that I have known you for that long." He finally looked back down at her, his eyes now being a storm of different conflicting feelings.

"To be honest with you, I know how you feel. There's this strange feeling that I've known you for nearly my entire life but I know that we've just met." Hearing him say it didn't bring the same comfort as she originally hoped for. It only spawned more questions and confusion as to when the familiarity made itself apparent.

"Listen, Aurora…" He trailed off again, but she knew what he was going to say, but she couldn't make up her mind on how to feel about it. "I have had this feeling in my chest the moment I saw you today and the moment I met you yesterday." _Marek please don't._ "I've never been so nervous around anyone before and I'll admit I don't like feeling like I can't talk to someone. I do think however, that you're the reason that I've been so self-conscious recently and I just need to ask you." _He's going to do it, he's actually going to do it._ "Is there a chance that maybe-"

"No, not at the moment Marek." Her answer was firm but she wanted it to be.

"That's what I figured and I'm not going to push you to say yes to me. I understand what happened to you and I respect that you're not ready for anything of that sort. I honestly don't even know why asking you two days after meeting you was a good idea. My gut tells me that it can work, that if you did say yes that I can somehow make it work. Now my head is racing a hundred miles a second asking itself why-" She would be lying to say that his rambling wasn't cute to her, that it made her want to laugh at him. It would also be a lie to say that it didn't cross her mind to pursue a relationship of that nature. Reality made it clear that any kind of romantic relationship with anyone was nigh impossible, at least for a little while longer.

"Marek, I can't stress enough that it's not you. I'm not going to let you sit here and think that I'm saying no because of who you are. I'm just not completely ready to accept someone in that position of my life right now, it feels wrong. When Ardere said me and Eclipse were close, he honestly under exaggerated what we were. I loved him more than anyone, we've both saved each other's lives at som-" More memories explained what she meant to herself, though she didn't need examples to know.

"Moving on is a hard thing but when my mother died, I needed Felice more than she probably realizes. I know what it's like to lose someone so vastly important and I feel as though I can help you with moving on. If you'll let me that is." His gesture made her want to smile and consider her answer, though what she wanted wasn't what she needed.

"I have plenty of people who can help me, but I don't want to drag you down with me, down a road you have no idea how to transverse it. His death shattered me into a million glass pieces and I don't want you to get hurt while helping put me back together." In her mind, she wanted him to help, to be there like her brother, like Ardere, but she did not want to use him like she's been using her friends.

"I know and I know that me asking such bold questions and asking for so much is overstepping my bounds but it bothers me to see someone who I care for in so much suppressed pain." She didn't need his reasoning to understand, she would've done the same thing in his position.

"Maybe in the future, I'll consider, but right now I just need to think. About pursuing that kind of relationship, about who I am, and about letting go enough to where I feel comfortable bringing someone into a position like that." She hated letting him down like this, but it didn't feel right to her to disappoint him. She wouldn't be able to look at herself if she hurt him by jumping head first into another relationship. "Besides, in the state I'm in, I don't think I could give you what you're looking for." She cursed at herself by letting it slip out into the open, but now she had to hope that he wouldn't want her to elaborate. Even though she trusted him enough, she didn't feel it was his place to know why.

"I respect that, and I know that you're not ready to be with someone else. Just know that if you do need someone to talk to, that I'm more than willing to be that someone. Even if it's just to yell and curse me out, I'll be willing to take the brunt of it if it meant that you would feel better afterwards." His commitment to a stranger made her want to learn more about him and why he's could go so far even for the chance that his feelings are real.

"Okay." She did curse him in that moment. She hated him for making her this way, for making her question everything, for sending confusing thoughts into her already whirlwind of a mind. At the same time, she felt something she thought had died in the tunnels and she knew it was because of him.


End file.
